Room 234
by BelovedShadow
Summary: Sakura Haruno is found dead. That night, eight boys were charged with her murder. Each had valid motive, and they all claim to have killed her, but all of them are lying. Three years later, the truth is revealed in a twisted tale of sin and revenge.YAOI!
1. White Walls

**-Gaara-**

_White_ was the most common color for walls. Everyone always said that, anyway. But they didn't _really_ know. They didn't see the truth of what they called white walls. No one would appreciate the _off-_white of most walls until they truly learned how white a wall _could _ be. When you reached a point when all you saw all day and all night was the blinding whiteness of padded walls – then you started to hate the color white. It lost It's grace, it's magnificence, it's purity. It lost everything, and all that was left of it was a shiny bright invisible reflection of whatever color you were feeling.

After three colorless years – Gaara was _tainted_ in white.

"Do you want to tell me how you got those scars?"

He almost wanted to laugh. The lady sounded like the Joker from that new batman movie. He half expected her to stick a knife in his mouth and '_put a smile on that face_.' He half expected himself to let her.

"No."

She frowned at that, and scribbled on her note pad a little. The notepad was white, her skin was white, her hair was covered by a white cap. Gaara himself and the black ink she was marking the paper with were competing to see who could show the most color. Gaara figured he'd have had to be winning – considering he had about six different shades of imperfection on his face alone.

Pink lips. Red hair. Green eyes, and the dark circles under them. Skin that was tan, yet still unnaturally pale when one reminded themselves of how much time he spent in the sun. The last color was – gratefully – _off _white. Almost perfectly white, but more of an ivory tone – that would be Gaara's teeth.

"Not all of them, then. How about you just tell me about the one on your forehead?"

She was beginning to annoy him now. "I _don't_ want to talk about them. Especially not that one." He muttered; but he knew she could hear him.

"Fine. We can skip the small talk," Since when was discussing fresh wounds self-inflicted on one's own flesh _small talk?_ "How about you tell me about why you killed that girl in your class?"

Gaara smiled then, and knew that he must have looked insane. That was fine. They'd stuck him in this place anyway, so he might as well play the part.

"Well, that can be a very short story, or a very long one."

She glanced up at the clock, then. It was a very ugly clock. White back, with pale grey rubber hands. There was nothing pointed or sharp in this room.

"We've got only minutes to spare, so we can come back to the long version tomorrow. How about you just tell me _how _it is that you killed her, and we can get to the why later?"

His grin only widened sadistically. "She had it coming, you know. She deserved death, but since you've asked me how it is I killed her, I guess I'll have to be perfectly honest with you…" He let his voice trail off, teasing the woman, knowing that at this point she was hanging to his every word. It wasn't that simple though. She couldn't merely question him and expect to solve the murder mystery that had been ongoing for the past three years, now could she?

"So be honest." She said, starting to get anxious. "How did you manage to kill her?"

"Well, that's very simple – I didn't."

**-Sasuke-**

Which do you do for the one you love? Live for them, or die for them? Give them your life, or give your life in their sake? How many nights can one person pray to whatever gods are listening that their loved ones will be okay? Better yet – how long did it take before you grew sick and weary from wondering. How long would it be before you learned to accept that prayer was worthless, death was meaningless, and life was pointless. How many years would pass until you could come to the conclusion that everything is nothing, and nothing will ever be anything again.

Three.

It took three years.

It took three years of never seeing the natural light of day. Three years of padded white walls. Three years of visits with different psychologists as they tried to map their way through the complex maze of your mind.

It took three years, eight social workers, five doctors, two mental institutions, ten pairs of _Fruit of the Loom _boxer briefs, one bed, four blankets, a pillow that must have been stuffed with rocks – and a stubbornness that could be unmatched.

Sasuke Uchiha hadn't spoken a word for three years.

He sat in silence with the headshrinker sitting across from him. They never spoke. The therapist had at least accepted that much. Sasuke could barely recall the sound of his own voice, but they hadn't asked any questions worth answering.

They were all the same question really : What happened that night? How did she die? Which of you did it, and how did you pull it off?

That was all anybody wanted to know anymore. Everyone had their own tale to tell about that day, three years ago. The day Sakura Haruno died – and it was a good thing she did.

Sasuke knew that no matter who that asked or what they asked, they'd end up eventually realizing the same thing from everyone – Sasuke was the only person who saw everything.

Oh sure, everyone was _there. _Everyone had their _eyes open. _But only one person really _saw _– and he wouldn't speak about it.

So far, the police had decided that they must have killed her together. That it must have been some sort of plot thought up by all of them, and that Sasuke was the evil mastermind behind all of it. They never would have guessed that he was all at once the least _and _most involved.

In truth – when that fateful day had come, he'd been the only person involved who didn't wake up that morning fully aware that Sakura Haruno would be found dead in her favorite teacher's classroom by the time the day was over. Still, it could easily be argued that he was the only person capable of preventing her death, although he'd chosen not to.

Letting Sakura die was a choice Sasuke prided himself in, but no one else knew he'd made it. It was his own personal secret.

And he was taking it to the grave.

**A/N: So, how are you feeling about this new fanfic? I know it seems kind of crazy and stuff, but I'm really liking the way the outline is looking, and hopefully you'll end up liking this fanfic too! **

**Now, although this chapter was clean, I'll warn you that there will be some pretty graphic stuff in this fanfic, including sex scenes – mostly for ItaSasu, but perhaps for a couple more pairings that will arise as the story progresses. **

**I really hope that you deem me worthy of a REVIEW! **

**Love and thanks for reading,**

**-Beloved**


	2. Skyline Dungeons

**-Itachi-**

The questions were never ending. Itachi had an equal hate for questions and things that didn't end. Everything was supposed to come to a close in his opinion – or else even life itself would not end in death. It would not have been so tiring if they could at least rotate the questions a little bit. He had been in the same room for one thousand, two hundred, and twenty days. Roughly three years – give or take a month or two. Some people needed to scratch off days on the wall, or else they'd all blur together in their minds. Itachi was much too well-minded for that sort of ridiculousness. If you were locked up in a room with nothing to do but count the days, then you damn sure better be able to do it in your head.

Itachi looked up from the cold stone floor he'd been sitting on when he heard the iron bars that kept him here opening. A man he'd grown very familiar with stepped in and frowned at him.

"You've got mail," The man grumbled out. He passed Itachi an envelope that looked like it must have been opened a million times before getting to him. He didn't even know why they went through the trouble of re-sealing it. Perhaps prison etiquette dictates that the convicts at least have the privilege of _thinking _they had privacy.

The return address was an ugly looking sticker. It had a symbol of the human brain on the left side, and a smiling face on the right. Between them, there was an image of a white building, and under it all the street address of the local Asylum was typed in italics. Upon opening the envelope, Itachi found twenty five sheets of blank white paper, and he couldn't help but laugh.

"What's so damn funny?" The guard asked, glaring down at the papers.

"An inside joke between myself and my brother, that's all." Itachi said, folding the paper neatly and placing it atop a disturbingly large stack of papers that varied in size and color but were all just as blank as the next one.

"Oh yeah? Well you'd better make that an _outside _joke! You and your stinking brother are both convicted murderers, so don't go thinking you can be keeping secrets!"

At this, Itachi smirked. "I assure you, sir – my brother and I _are _and will _always be _keeping a great deal of secrets. However, none of them are written on this page – so it's really none of your business."

Itachi knew he'd won that one when the guard slammed the barred door shut again. Stupid bloke would be sure to "forget" to bring him dinner that night, probably. But that still wasn't enough to stop Itachi from laughing again at Sasuke's hilarity.

Every single week without fail, Sasuke would use his mailing rights to compose a letter to his brother. This letter, however, was never so much a _letter _as it was a blank piece of paper. There was nothing written in invisible ink. There was no secret code. There was nothing. Nothing but the knowledge that Sasuke still refused to speak.

He wouldn't speak. He wouldn't write. He wouldn't do anything. This was greatly amusing to Itachi to begin with – knowing that his brother was forever mailing him, but never saying anything. What was _more _amusing though, was that today Sasuke had sent twenty five sheets.

The guards had clearly spotted the difference and thoroughly tried to decipher the message to no avail. Itachi understood it loud and clear. Twenty five sheets, for his twenty five years.

He guessed the guards hadn't taken the time to notice it was his birthday.

**-Shikamaru- **

"You really don't have to visit, you know. I'm not bored or anything," Shikamaru stated as he sat outside of his window and stared out into the gardens. He had a very nice room. It was homey, even.

It was only the highest floor of the Asylum, and had a skylight roof. He could see the clouds from his bed. It was actually the most peaceful three years he'd ever had. If he'd known earlier that confessing to murder a girl who was found dead a couple hundred miles away from where you were during her demise qualified you to be crazy- then he'd have confessed to quite a few more murders much sooner.

For now he was here simply because he claimed to have done it, but there was no physical way he could have. Oh well. He'd let them figure that one out for themselves. He may have been a part of this whole scandal, but he knew that if he talked much more about it he'd be digging his friends into that hole as well – so he simply blabbered on and on about nonsense and tried to sound as insane as possible when they came to check on him.

It certainly kept him a nice view.

"That's _why _we visit you! If you didn't have us here, you'd have absolutely _no _idea what was happening in the outside world. Or even just downstairs! All the lawyers and officers are here again, you know. I think Gaara may have said something…"

Shikamaru grinned at that. "Gaara? What could he possibly have said? If there are really that many people crowded around then I'd expect the person who finally spoke up would be _Sasuke._"

Ino shook her head. "No, he still hasn't spoken. I'd really like to go see him, but rumor has it he's violent and unstable."

Shikamaru nodded. He didn't really think Sasuke was unstable _or _violent. In fact, it was his fault that Sasuke had gotten involved with this whole ordeal in the first place. It didn't make sense that out of the eight of them, only _two _ended up in padded white rooms. Then again, Sasuke was the only one found covered in blood – and Gaara… well, Gaara was a different story all together most of the time. Neji had plead insane because his lawyers had told him to. He was in the room right next to Shikamaru's and they saw each other from time to time. Itachi was unfortunately the only person who was of age at the time, so he was in prison. No one knew what had happened to Sai. The other two were un juvenile hall.

Three years. It had been three years since the incident in room two-thirty-four.

Shikamaru frowned, and thought to himself about what Ino had said. It was impossible for Gaara to have helped them make a big break- because Gaara didn't know anything either.

This couldn't be solved without all eight of them. That much was certain. But they only had seven in custody, and out of that seven – the most important one wasn't speaking.

It seemed this would just drag on forever then… how troublesome.

**A/N: I have no idea how I managed to thunk out another chapter for this so soon. Probably all of your LOVELY reviews xD That and the fact that this fanfic has been blessed with one of the most detailed outlines EVER. I did so well laying it out for myself! **

**Anyways, I hope that you enjoyed this chapter! You still have to hear from a couple more people before we can really dive into the plot of this correctly, but I hope you'll stick along for the ride! **

**Please review! They make me SO happy, and they make me update really quickly, see? **

**I love all the readers! **

**-Beloved**


	3. Clipping Feathers

**-Neji-**

"Questioning me _again_?" Neji asked as he heard the disturbingly quiet click of his door unlocking. It unnerved him how silent these rooms were. He knew that the walls around him expertly hid the screaming pleas of those here who were truly insane. Knowing that you're surrounded by chaos and unable to see or hear any of it is much more unsettling than it would seem.

"Not just you," A rude voice spat out, and now the Hyuuga trained his eyes to the door, and saw three faces more familiar than that of the one addressing him. He raised a curious eyebrow at his former classmates as they filed into the room. Shikamaru helped himself to the window seat, and Gaara boldly sprawled across Neji's bed. Sasuke stood and looked upwards in boredom. There were two guards standing on either side of him as if he might try to kill any of them any minute. This almost made Neji want to laugh.

He did not laugh, though. He frowned at the peaceful expression on the Uchiha's face – because he realized that his measly skylight window was the first time Sasuke had seen the sky in three years. And all for what? They didn't do anything wrong. Neji didn't know the details of what happened between Sasuke and Sakura in room two-thirty-four that day, but he recalled the aftermath with ease.

_He had walked into the classroom, and thrown the door open to see Sasuke with his hands around Sakura's throat. His brother was standing beside him, with one arm placed comfortingly at Sasuke's waist, and they were both covered in blood. When Sasuke had looked up there had been tears streaming down his face. _

"_I killed Sakura Haruno. Call the police." He'd said. Neji didn't believe it. He'd opened his mouth to speak when Itachi had intervened first. _

"_No, Sasuke tried to stop it. I'm the one who killed her." Itachi had argued. _

_Neji knew by the way their voices shook with the weight of the world that neither of them had done it, and as more and more of them found the classroom more and more confessions poured in. Neji was the only person who saw Sasuke's hands around her throat, but he took the fall along with his friends that day. _

They'd all done it, really. They'd all done it, and none of them had done it – and unless Sasuke spoke up about that day, it was highly unlikely that any of them would be truly condemned or proven innocent.

"So, what is it that you're questioning us about today?" Shikamaru asked, yawning slightly to himself. A glance at the clock told Neji it was well past two in the afternoon. Poor little Shika must have been late for his nap. That put a smile on his face.

"Gaara, you confessed last week that you didn't kill Sakura. Would you care to explain in front of your friends how it is that she was found dead?" One of the detectives was staring at Gaara with encouraging eyes.

Pale green ones looked back at her with incredulous boredom. "What, you thought that my saying I _didn't _kill her meant I knew who _did_?"

Shikamaru laughed lightly and shook his head. Sasuke didn't seem to be listening. He was near the other window now, and Neji saw him gazing longingly into the distance. He couldn't understand why. There was nothing to see out of that window. Only a disgusting block of paved over parking lot and the huge gray intimidating architecture of the city prison. Still, Sasuke didn't choose to look at one of the more pleasant views. He held his hand up against the cool glass, and tuned out the others.

Neji felt eyes on his neck, and turned to see that Shikamaru was watching him watch Sasuke. The Nara's eyes held a feint sense of suspicion that told Neji there was something to be seen that he wasn't seeing.

"Your rude backtalk is of no consequence, Mr. Subaku. We expected no more or less of you. We are here to ask Mr. Hyuuga and Mr. Nara if they can both agree that you had no part in the murder of Sakura Haruno."

Shikamaru looked back at the detective then, and frowned at his red-headed friend. "Singing and fluttering about won't give you true flight, Gaara. If you're sick of being a caged bird, you'll need to stop clipping your own feathers."

"I have no idea what you're talking about, Shikamaru... Detective, I was feeling unwell yesterday. I'm sorry – now that I think back on it, I _did _kill that bitch."

Sasuke chuckled darkly to himself by the window, and the detective fumed with anger.

"What the hell kind of code was that?" She asked, angrily.

Even Neji had to laugh. It wasn't uncommon for Gaara to say something that made them think they were getting somewhere with the case, but he always took it back for one reason or another, so really they'd only made backwards progress with him because at this point they couldn't claim that anything he said was true anymore.

The detective was upset now, though. So the rest of the visit went unpleasantly. She yelled and announced that if they continued being so insubordinate with the case, she'd mention to the district attorney that they were all of age to be thrown into prison now. It wasn't until Neji noticed Sasuke's face when the detective had mentioned prison that the pieces started fitting together in his head.

Sasuke was still staring out of that window, and Neji Hyuuga was finally beginning to understand _why. _

**-Gaara- **

Having a little fun with the detective and the guards is always entertaining, if nothing else. For a moment, Gaara had thought that maybe they'd let him go if he could prove his own innocence. For a moment, he'd forgotten that he wasn't kept here for the same reason as everyone else. For a moment, if only a moment, his forearms hadn't stung against his sleeves.

That moment was over now, though. Gaara had spent the last month in this room wondering how he'd even fooled himself for a single day into thinking that they'd forget about the scars. Shikamaru had reminded him though, before he could go too far into his dream land where everything was perfect, and as soon as the Haruno murder case was solved he'd be deemed sane enough to leave this shit hole.

But old habits die hard, and if he didn't get back to one of his particularly savage ones soon then he'd drive himself insane.

"You've got a visitor," A guard mumbled in mild annoyance, as he opened the door and shoved someone in.

Gaara offered a soft smile to the curly-haired raven who stepped into his room. He stood still as lips descended onto his, and he opened his mouth willingly for a prodding tongue. He smiled against his lover's mouth when they separated and coughed discreetly into his hand, then balled it into a fist – paying no mind to the thin line of blood that was now dripping through his fingers.

"You always _did _have the most creative ways of sneaking me treats," Gaara said, as he stuck his fist into the pocket of the generic sweatpants he had been given by the Asylum.

"I still think you should stop, but if it's making your time here easier, I might as well support you in whatever it is you do."

The Subaku nodded. "It's certainly a nice gesture, considering it's _your _idiot cousin who's keeping us in this coop anyhow."

Shisui grinned. "If you'd testified against Sasuke you could be out. But you won't do that."

"No, I won't. But not for _his _sake," Gaara clarified, looking up into obsidian eyes with great deliberation.

"It's nice of you to care so much about my family, but it's not _Sasuke _who I wish could be free to hold me at night, you know…"

Gaara smiled again. "I know. You should go now. It won't do either of us any good if you stay any longer."

They both knew it was a lie. They both knew that really Gaara was just anxious to get to the fresh new razor that he now had hidden in his pocket. But neither of them would say it. They'd both pretend that Gaara was able to care about more than the touch of sharp cool metal against his flesh – but that was hardly true.

All Gaara had to live for was the cuts, the blood, and the scars they left. Each scar told a story, you see. But not all of them were caused by _him. _

There were over twenty, polka-dotting across his chest, that he'd acquired in classroom two-thirty-four on the day that Sakura Haruno was murdered. Those were the ones that he looked at the least. Not because they were physically unpleasing on the eye – but because he was loathed to remember the story they told.

**A/N: How was this chapter, guys? It's a tiny bit longer than the first two, and hopefully you've enjoyed it as much. I'm trying to update this fic at least every other day, because you guys review it so well and you really deserve it! **

**Keep those reviews rolling in, and I'll keep on updating with this frequency! (hopefully o.O) **

**I love you all SO much just for reading this! **

**-Beloved**


	4. Cold Walls and Dining Halls

**-Shisui- **

Prisons were, among a host of other things, always cold. That was the first thought running through Shisui's mind as he was escorted lower, lower, and lower still into the depths of the dungeons. Here there was no place for shoplifters, treasonous persons, or con artists. No, these were the cells for the rapists. The arsonists. The murderers. This cold place – even on a hot summer afternoon – would be where he found his cousin.

The guard's keys jingled aggressively as he struggled with them, trying to unlock the bars. Shisui marveled at the incompetence of the man, and it occurred to him – not for the first time – that a silly cell like this truly wasn't enough to contain Itachi in earnest. If his little cousin desired release, he could easily grasp it. This was slightly unsettling, but the curly haired Uchiha set that thought aside as he finally stepped into the cramped cell.

It was disconcerting that a place so spacious could also be so small. Perhaps that was simply because the room was both tiny and empty. Yes, that had to be it. Itachi was leaned lazily against the farthest corner from the door, in the middle of making what looked to be an origami zoo. He already had managed several bats, an elephant, a few fish, some frogs, a horse, two rabbits, a snake, a tiger, and a disturbing amount of cranes. He looked lazily up at met his cousin's eyes.

"This one shall be a fox, when I've finished. The next a cow. I've run out of animals that actually reside at the zoo now." Itachi's voice was calm and collected, as if he truly had nothing better to do with his day than sit around in a prison for a crime he didn't commit, and make zoo animals out of pieces of paper that he found god-knows-where.

"Why so many cranes?"

Itachi smiled. "Twenty five." Was his answer, and Shisui frowned. Itachi had an annoying habit of answering questions that weren't asked of him, and an even _more _annoying habit of never responding to the inquiries that _were._

Shisui knew better by now than to explain to his cousin that he hadn't asked for a head count. Itachi clearly wasn't going to answer the question.

"I'm coming from the Asylum,"

Less trained eyes wouldn't have noticed the slight flicker of interest on Itachi's features. But to Shisui, it was there. That was good. At least this place hadn't driven the weasel _entirely _mad, then. He still understood what it meant to react to stimuli that lied outside of this cell.

"Has Gaara managed to completely amputate his arm, yet?" Itachi asked with a sickeningly knowing smirk.

The question caught Shisui so off guard that he almost choked. He knew that his relationship with Gaara was old news. As was the fact that his darling young lover was actively masochistic, and prone to self-harm. However, although it was less known – it was definitely a _fact _that Itachi had better things to ask about with the goings on at the Asylum.

"Not going to ask about Sasuke-Kun? You could try to show a little more interest, Itachi. The boy _is _your brother."

Itachi frowned, and the left ear to his fox ended up lopsided in relation to the other. This minor imperfection was a red flag to just how agitated he was.

"Make no mistake, cousin – I am perfectly aware of all relation I hold to Sasuke Uchiha, brotherly and otherwise. I cannot, and _will _not forget who he is and what he means to me, and perhaps if you took the time to _think _about all of that for more than two bloody seconds, you'd be a step closer to getting us all out of this mess."

Lovely. So they'd argue. Just grand.

"Don't get bitter with _me, _Itachi! If you'd just tell the boy to fucking speak, you wouldn't have been here this long!"

"And what would you have him say? Huh? Since you're clearly so high and mighty. Since you've clearly been through everything that we've been through. Since _you're _the one who sat there and watched the most important person in the world crumble into nothingness. Since it's _you _that's been sitting alone with nothing but rats and roaches for the past three _years _with _nothing _to hold on to but the simple fact that Sasuke still hasn't given in to those ass-holes. He has a right not to say anything! What happened to innocent until proven guilty? Didn't it ever occur to you that he understands his silence is _condemning _him so he must CLEARLY know that it's worth it to remain as such?"

Shisui had no words for that. Itachi wasn't the kind of man who yells, but when he was upset he hissed out each word with such icy precision that Shisui had to wonder if it was actually Itachi himself who made this prison so cold, instead of the frosty bricks and underground tomb-like spaces.

"Okay, I haven't been through what you and Sasuke have gone through. I'm sorry for misunderstanding your troubles, but _please_ just help me to understand what's making this all go so out of whack? You know I won't go to the law, and I know that even _you _can't understand the entirety of the situation, but all that I've gotten from Gaara is that the Haruno girl knew something she shouldn't have and died for it. Can you at least tell me what she found out the day before, that had her so sure-set on the track of impending doom?"

Itachi sighed, and pinched the bridge of his nose, an act of stress that was so obvious Shisui was actually offended by the younger man's lack of subtlety.

"You _know, _don't you? You know what she knew?" He screamed it angrily, thinking of all the times he'd come to visit Itachi, all the times Itachi could have said something, but feigned ignorance.

"Of course I know, you tool. It's _my _secret, isn't it? What, you didn't realize that I'm here because I murdered her for it?" His laugh was sadistic and out of character.

"Well, will you tell me?"

Itachi grinned, but his eyes were full of malice and discontent. "Go ask Sasuke," He suggested, before chuckling to himself some more, and pulling out another piece of paper – presumably to begin his origami cow.

Shisui could see that this whole conversation was about to go full circle again, so he stormed out of the prison cell furiously, not even bothering to close the bars behind him. It didn't matter anyway. Itachi wouldn't leave. He stayed there completely by choice, and the more people tried to discover what made him choose that fate, the more murky their perception on the whole issue became.

It was … in a word… an enigma.

**-Kotetsu- **

Of all the jobs for someone who didn't enjoy the presence of rowdy children, working at a Youth Detention Center. Admittedly, _Konoha's Home for troubled Juvenile's _wasn't as bad as most other ones. In fact, from what Kotetsu had heard, the one in Oto was so bad that one of the children had killed the director, and it was now completely at loss of structure.

Still, this one didn't have too much to offer in the killer department. There were only two residents who had been charged with murder, and they were both such incompetent goof-balls that it was really hard for Kotetsu to understand how it was that a jury of their peers had ever found them guilty in the first place. It never would have occurred to him that Konoha's "fair" legal policies that claimed to be fashioned based off of the American Constitution was still so fucked up that the poor boys had never even sat a full trial.

Why they were now allowed to share a room together was beyond Kotetsu's realm of imagination, and he had much more interesting things to imagine anyway. For example – what would life be like if he had an amazing salary and did nothing but lay on sandy beaches all day surrounded by beautiful naked women? Yes. Much better things to do with his imagination than try and figure out why these two little buggers were spending the better time of their adolescence locked up in a room for a crime that anyone in their right mind knew they wouldn't have committed.

He frowned to himself as he went to go check on those two. He opened the door to find them, as usual, in the middle of a game of strip poker. This strange game honestly seemed to be the only thing that kept the rascals occupied.

"Lunch is in the dining hall," Kotetsu murmured out tiredly.

"Thanks!" One of the boys said to him, rising in excitement. "Do they have ramen, today?"

"Do they _ever_?" The other one growled out pessimistically.

Stupid Uzumaki kid always wanted ramen. Oh well, at least he was worth a laugh. Kotetsu simply shook his head, and left – leaving their door open so they could make their way to the cafeteria if they wished.

Today was going to be another long day.

**A/N: I updated! Again! Just when you guys were starting to think I wouldn't! (Well, those of you who know what an inconsistent bastard I am already) **

**PLEASE review! **

**I love you guys a super duper lot! **

**-Beloved**


	5. Flower Webs

**A/N: **_Mkay, I try not to put beginning authors notes, but I just wanted to say something to you folks really quickly, if you don't mind. Self-Harm, or "Cutting" is a psychological addiction. Being a "cutter" is mentally much the same as being an alcoholic. It can happen to anyone, and it should be taken seriously. I am saying this for two specific types of messages that I'm getting : One type of message in which people become upset that I'm "glamorizing" self-mutilation. I'm not trying to make it sound pretty, so sorry if that's what you got from it. The second group is arguing that Gaara would never be a cutter. That's about as dumb as saying that a virgin wouldn't have sex before marriage. The simple fact that someone hasn't shown characteristics of something YET doesn't mean they never will. Personally, I see it fit to remind you that canon Gaara DOES carve into his own forehead – so I'm really not reaching too far, here. Now, with that said – on to the next chapter of Room 234!_

**-Gaara- **

Today, for some reason, Gaara found that the guards were making him eat his lunch with Sasuke. He supposed they thought, again for some mysterious reason, that Sasuke would speak if he was around his old friend. This was, of course, not the case. When the guards opened up the white padded door and brought Sasuke in, the Uchiha didn't make a single sound. They set the food out in front of him, and weren't even rewarded with a physical motion of thanks. He just sat there.

"Good afternoon, Uchiha." Gaara said, chuckling. "Any idea as to how it is you've stumbled upon my luxurious boudoir today?"

Sasuke's lips turned upwards for a second, clearly amused that Gaara had enough humor left in him to call the white room 'luxurious'.

"Cat got your tongue? Tell me Sasuke, do you have any idea what your voice sounds like? I think I've forgotten it."

No reply.

Gaara frowned. This was definitely going to be a very boring meal. The guards stood close by, lurking. Gaara expected that soon a lawyer of some sort would be in to see them. He was right. In only twenty minutes time, a big-busted woman in a crème colored suit with pale green pinstripes entered. She had her hair pulled back into two slick ponytails, that one could have mistaken for childish piggy-tails if she didn't wear them so regally.

"Sasuke Uchiha?" She asked.

Gaara watched in amusement as Sasuke dipped a piece of his bread into some brown murky slop that was supposed to be chili. He chewed for a while, swallowed, and when _he _was ready, he looked up at the woman and raised an eyebrow.

"Did you or did you not murder Sakura Haruno?"

Sasuke frowned, and yanked off some more stale bread.

"This one don't do so well with those type of question, Miss. Pretty basic thing, he is. Only answers yes or no." It was one of the guards speaking, and Gaara wondered again why it was that all of this was being done in his room instead of Sasuke's.

The woman seemed to pull herself together quickly, and she looked down at Sasuke again. The raven seemed to have given up on the chili, and he was scraping his fork through it- separating out all of the little diced tomatoes.

"Sasuke, did you kill Sakura Haruno?"

Gaara could barely tell if Sasuke's head moved at all – but it _looked _like he nodded.

"You did? Well, the boy next to you says that _he _did it. What do you have to say to that?"

Nothing, of course. Sasuke had finished picking the tomatoes out of his chili, and was now eating them alone without the other bits.

Gaara tuned them both out as she continued firing questions, and Sasuke continued ignoring her. He guessed they must have thought that with him there, Sasuke wouldn't lie and say that he killed her. Then again, they didn't really know that it was a lie. Gaara himself only knew it was a lie because he'd been the first to open his locker the day before and see Sakura's suicide letter. He didn't learn until after the trial that everyone in their group of friends had gotten one of those letters, with the exception of Sasuke. The note had read:

_I can't take it anymore, I'm sorry to leave you all like this but my life is over anyway, so don't try to stop me. Tomorrow, I'm going to Kakashi's classroom, and I plan on dying there. He's always been my favorite teacher, and this school is filled with my best memories, so it seems only fitting. Please, I don't want to make a scene. Have the police come pick up my body in rm.234 tomorrow at noon. Thank you for being the best friends I could ever have dreamed of. I'm sorry that you all seem to have forgotten how close we once were. It's over now. _

_-Sakura _

The problem was sickening. Sakura hadn't dyed until one PM that day. Her suicide note wasn't so much a suicide note, as it was an attempt to get the police to that classroom before she was brutally killed. The sick part was that everyone BUT Sasuke had gotten the damn letter, and no one had showed up to the classroom that day at noon except for – guess who? Sasuke!

Clearly, he was the number one suspect. What reason did he have to be there if he didn't know she was going to kill herself? It was a question that Gaara had heard many times, but he'd never heard an answer.

The number two suspect was Sai, because it's always protocol to blame the first person who runs away.

Number three was Gaara himself. Something about his DNA all over the crime scene. Well, he knew how _that _had happened, but it barely had anything to do with the little Haruno bitch.

"I can see this is going nowhere. Since you've clearly finished all you're going to _eat _of that lunch, we will let Mr. Subaku get to his counseling session. Good day, Mr. Uchiha." The woman yanked Gaara out of his thoughts as she spat her words out at an ever-silent Sasuke.

As they exited the room, Gaara thought he imagined Sasuke winking at him before turning to go. The redhead rolled his eyes as his appointed therapist and one of the Asylum doctors stepped in. He remained still on his bed as the therapist sat down and the doctor approached. This was so routine that he barely noticed it anymore.

"Gaara, how are you today?"

"Oh, the same as yesterday, I'd imagine. Same as the day before that, and the week before that, and the month before that, and the year before _that. _How are _you_, Shizune-San?"

She smiled at him, and he was glad to see that it reached her eyes. Gaara would've bet his left nut that he could get in her pants if he so desired – but he knew that what he'd find there would not be satisfactory to his tastes.

"I'm doing really well! I see you had lunch with Uchiha-Kun today."

He nodded, and watched the way she flinched and turned away as the medic pulled up Gaara's right sleeve. He smirked.

"You can look, you know… I don't mind." He said, grinning sadistically as she turned around and looked pointedly at his face.

"Are you r-ready to talk about… about the sc-scars today?" She asked shakily, as he stood and walked closer to her.

"C'mon, Shizune. How can we talk about them if you won't even take a peek? _Look!_" He shoved his arm in her face. The skin twisted painfully in its new position, and the skin cracked, releasing a slow stream of blood from one of the newer marks on his flesh.

Alas, she did look, and she went pale. Gaara could see her taking in each and every one. He had to admit, he was getting very good with his line-work. His therapist was clearly caught somewhere between horrified and fascinated.

"You… you did all of this?"

Gaara rolled his eyes. "Who else?"

She held out her hand and took his other arm, pulling up the left sleeve slowly. These scars were a little older, and she traced them with her finger, then compared to the right. Gaara shivered slightly as he felt her eyes boring into his newest addition. He never cut his skin mindlessly. It was always to rid himself of the most powerful thought or emotion that he had at that time.

The one she was staring at had been added three days ago, when Shisui had come to visit. It was bleeding some, but the Japanese characters stood clear against Gaara's pale skin. The word _lust _was visible to all who dared to look.

"Can you read them?" Gaara whispered delicately.

She nodded slowly. "Most of them… not this one." She pointed to the faded mark on Gaara's upper left arm.

"I did that one the first day I got here. It's not very clear, because I had to use my nails. That was before you people started clipping them every day, and I upgraded to smuggling in razors."

He could see she was surprised that he'd confess to such a thing, but it wasn't as if they could stop him from getting the razor's anyway- or take the one he _had. _He slept with it under his pillow, and kept it in his mouth most of the time. The first two days he had a new razor – it always tasted like Shisui. After that, it would just taste like blood.

"Your first day here?"

He nodded.

"Well … what does it say?"

Gaara frowned. "White. It says white."

**-Sasuke-**

Lunch with Gaara and that crazy woman was entertaining, at least. Still, Sasuke was dreadfully bored. He'd had plenty time to think, at least. Mostly he thought of his brother. Sasuke thought of Itachi as a stray flower petal, that was once flowing peacefully in the wind – but somehow got trapped in a spider web.

The Uchiha remembered being young, and riding around on Itachi's back. That was the first time he'd seen this disturbing phenomena. He'd cried, and asked Itachi what the poor flower had done to deserve such a cruel fate. He'd whined and carried on about how it wasn't fair. The spider had no use for a petal, and now the poor thing was trapped forever anyway. And for what? Just from the desire to freely ride the wind.

Itachi had petted him and cooed him gently, then pulled the petal out of the web, and placed it in one of Sasuke's tiny, chubby hands. He'd been so delighted. He waited for a strong wind, and then let it go – and everything in the world was made right again.

Sasuke wished it was all that simple now.

He looked up as someone stepped into his room.

"Package for you." A man who Sasuke wasn't familiar with placed the box down at the foot of his bed and left. It was tattered and man-handled.

This was expected. When one sends mail between a prison and an Asylum, it never makes it unopened.

Sasuke carefully unfolded the panels of the box, and smiled. There was a letter, and … a zoo! There was an entire zoo made from origami. Sasuke's first childish thought was that now he'd have something to play with when he was bored, but that was silly. He was about to be a twenty year old man, he didn't need toys.

He opened the letter.

_Dearest Otouto, _

_ Can you even begin to imagine how much I'm missing you? I suppose you can. I like to think that you miss me just as much – but that could be my own vanity. I'd like to apologize if Shisui has disturbed your peace lately. I may have snapped at him during his last visit. _

_How are you? If you are well, I'm pleased. If you are not… let me know somehow. Actually, that's a part of why I'm sending you this. These past three years have been absolute hell without you – and no one understands your silence better than I do. But, I admit I am longing to hear your sweet voice again. _

_I will not say exactly how much I would delight in seeing you, because I know that many people will read this letter before you do. Just think of your sixteenth birthday gift, and imagine me giving it to you again and again. _

Sasuke chuckled lightly to himself before he continued reading the letter.

_I hear that they've reopened the case, so I know that you must be being hounded even more than usual. I have spent a lot of my time thinking, not just of you, but of this situation as a whole. I think I have found a few more answers to the question we've all been asking ourselves, and I'm sure you know what that means. _

_It's time, Otouto. _

_All my love,_

_-Itachi _

Sasuke let out a shaky breath, and nodded his head. He carefully re-folded and pocketed the letter, then rose from his bed, and walked over to the door – giving it a polite knock, and waiting for the guards to answer.

"Bathroom?" They asked, already holding out their hands, because they knew he didn't speak.

Sasuke shook his head, and they looked shocked. Wordlessly, he began to walk, and they followed behind him. He wondered for a moment what they'd do if he went straight out of the front door, but that wasn't what he had to do. He made his way to the office he desired, and almost smiled at the surprised look of the new lawyer handling the case.

Sasuke cleared his throat softly, and remembered what Itachi had told him so many years ago. "Silence is a magical thing, Otouto. When it's broken – whatever sound is made will be more important than anything else you hear."

Sasuke knew that after three years of silence, his next sentence would be tended to with care. He stood up straight and looked at the lawyer straight in the eye.

"I want to see my brother."

**A/N: How's this chapter? Not too bad? ItachiSasukeSama picked who's point of view it should be xD You're getting a nice chunk of plot because of her choices, huh? **

**Please review! I REALLY love them! Thanks so much to those who have reviewed so far! **

**Love you for reading, **

**-Beloved**


	6. Friendships: New and Old

**A/N: Here's a little mini-chapter, just to tell you guys to go take my poll. (Yes, I AM writing up a chapter JUST to make you take my poll, because it is THAT important to me that you take it.)**

**-Naruto- **

One's life becomes quite boring when one's roommate is sick and one is forced to move into someone else's room. The new guy didn't even like strip poker! All he ever did was sit around by the window and poke holes in the screen with his freakishly-sharp fingernails. You'd think he was trying to plot their escape, but no – he wanted to let the bugs in. Freak.

They said he was here for getting into a fight at his school. Said his teacher was about to step on a roach, and he pushed her out of the way. He also claimed to have attended the same high school as Naruto had – three years ago – but Naruto had no memory of that.

He looked up from his boring game of solitaire when the door clicked open and Kotetsu's unhappy head poked inside.

"Lunch…" He muttered disinterestedly, and Naruto grinned.

"Any Ramen?"

The door shut.

His new roommate let out an audible sigh and placed the beetle that he was "nursing back to health" inside of the small box he'd started keeping for it. Naruto _seriously _missed his old companion…

The cafeteria was crowded when the boys got there, but that was normal. This was the only time when they weren't sorted by their offense, so it inspired a lot of "whaddaya in for?" conversation. He sat dotop across from his new roommate and allowed himself to be loosely handcuffed to the table as they brought out food for him.

"So, what's your name again?"

Glare.

"Shino." Came the icy response. "My tone is unfriendly, because I've already told you that twice."

Naruto shrugged. "Sorry, Dude."

A bowl of something hot wet and red was noisily set down in front of him, and he stared at it, grinning. Tomato soup.

"Do you know why I'm here, Shino?" Naruto asked seriously, looking across the table at the boy who he officially considered his new friend.

"Not officially. I heard rumors that you're one of the only two inhabitants of ward nine; which would suggest that you're here for murder."

The Uzumaki nodded his head half-heartedly. "I'm here because of friendship, Shino. I'm here because sometimes, it's better for _everyone_ to suffer together than it is to watch one person sacrifice themselves unjustly…" Naruto smiled. "I'm here because I remember going to Ichiraku's when I was ten, and talking to the boy who brought a Tupperware of tomato soup." He looked down fondly at their lunch.

Shino might have been frowning, but Naruto couldn't tell.

"So you haven't really done anything wrong, then? You're here for no reason?"

"Just because I didn't do what I'm here for, doesn't mean I don't have a reason."

**-Shikamaru-**

Shikamaru Nara was disturbed from his cloud watching by a knock on his door. For a moment, he contemplated not answering it – but deciding that this particular knock was much too polite to be the guards, and not snooty _enough _to be a lawyers, he called out a simple announcement that if they didn't have the key to get in, he sure as hell didn't have the key to get out.

With a small chuckle, Neji entered. He closed the door behind himself and laid down beside his friend.

"Flying fish." He said decisively, pointing upwards out of the skylight and towards one of the wispy blobs of whiteness in the sky.

Shikamaru smiled. "You have no imagination, Hyuuga. It's just a fish. Not everything in the sky has to take flight."

Neji rolled over onto his stomach and propped up on an elbow, gazing out of another window. Shikamaru turned away from the clouds and studied his childhood friend closely. Neji's hair had grown out a lot. When they'd arrived, it was just past his shoulders, and now he had to put the ends of it in a small bun to stop it from flowing so far down that he'd sit on it.

He was still slender, but it wasn't appealing now. Where he was once toned, he was now underfed. Shikamaru wondered if he looked the same way. It was odd to observe changes in a person who you see often, he thought. They only came across Sasuke or Gaara about every six months, and the changes were so drastic that it was impossible not to notice. Gaara looked more scarred, and Sasuke more miserable.

"Did you really think I'd say anything in front of the guards?" Neji asked quietly.

Shikamaru grimaced in confusion. "About what?"

"When I saw Sasuke staring at the prison. The way you looked at me … as if you were afraid I'd announce to the world that Konoha's two most wanted convicts are pining for each other."

"Oh." It was all Shikamaru could manage to say. What was his _expected _response? He had no words for that. Did Neji want to be soothed, and told that he was the Nara's most trusted friend and companion, and that of course Shikamaru knew he'd never do anything so stupid? Shikamaru couldn't tell him that. It would be a lie. He would trust Neji with _his _life, yes. But …

"Neji, if I was hanging from a cliff, and had to choose what hand I trusted to pull me up – it would be yours."

"But?"

"But it wasn't _me _reaching for your hand in that room, it was Sasuke."

Neji turned back then, and looked up at the clouds. Shikamaru gazed at him for a moment, but was intimidated by his composure and looked away.

"No, you're right, Shika. If it was just between me and Sasuke, I would let him fall."

**A/N: Ohhhhh, what's Neji's problem with Sasuke? Wanna know a secret? I'm sure you do, everyone does, right? I'm not gonna tell you one, though. **

**Glad you enjoyed or hated or felt no way at all about this mini-chapter! Expect a chapter of decent length later. (Itachi and Sasuke reunion coming up soon, guys!) **

**Thank you so much for all of your reviews! **

**SERIOUSLY GO TAKE MY POLL! **

**Love you! **

**-Beloved **


	7. Reunited

**-Itachi-**

Sasuke looked beautiful surrounded by white. It made his hair look darker, and his eyes seemed almost iridescent in their blackness. Itachi could swear that he could see every color he knew reflected back at him in those eyes, but he had no time to care about a rainbow. There was much too much to see. The paper zoo had been set up on Sasuke's end table (also white) and Itachi felt proud that he'd sent so many different colors of animals. His gift was the only thing that gave the room any color at all – but again, Itachi knew that the zoo was just a passing observation from his peripheral vision. In truth – he wasn't seeing the thing at all.

He saw only his brother. He saw Sasuke's eyes, searching, yearning, loving, caressing. Sasuke's eyes did everything to Itachi that Sasuke's hands _would _have, had the guards not been standing over them. They were needy, hungry, desperate. They seduced him in a way that was entirely platonic and entirely sexual all at once, and it wasn't hard for him to remember how he'd become such a sinner in the first place. Sasuke's eyes begged for the comforting hug of a brother, and burned with the demand of an impatient lover. Itachi had never wanted him more than he did at that moment.

Slowly, tortuously, he forced his _own _eyes to look elsewhere. Not away from Sasuke – never that. Just away from such an intense gaze. They settled first on his brother's nose, taking in the agile curve of it, the way that it was slightly too small for Sasuke's face; a quality that the younger Uchiha despised and Itachi found endearing. He looked at Sasuke's lips, plump and moist and promising. Aware of his scrutiny, a tongue darted out – half in nervous agitation, and (knowing Sasuke) half just to tease Itachi because that tongue was no longer something that was known to lap eagerly at his flesh. No, Itachi and Sasuke's tongue were practically strangers now – but he had quite pleasant memories of the times they'd once shared together.

Lower, his eyes traveled. Now his eyes traced Sasuke's jaw, jutting out – too thin. Probably picked all the stuff he liked out of his food and left the rest. His neck and shoulders displayed the same malnourishment, but after three years of time apart, Itachi still had no hesitation in thinking that he'd never looked at anyone who was nearly as perfect as his brother. Perhaps ribs should not be visible against a loose white shirt, and hair should not be dry and overgrown from too many missed haircuts, and too many showers washing it with bar soap instead of proper shampoo. Maybe there was a world in which beauty demanded hands that did not look callused and rough, and cheeks were not sunken in – but that was not the world Itachi chose to live in.

Sasuke shivered slightly as Itachi continued to stare,drinking up every inch of him, and he wondered if maybe he looked like _he _needed something between a hug and a shag as well. He probably needed both. He probably wasn't allowed either.

"It's good to see you, Nii-San," The younger man's voice sounded broken and unused, nothing like Itachi remembered it at all. Sasuke seemed to know this, and looked like he wanted to cry, as if he'd disappointed his brother somehow by failing to regain his old soft-spoken tenderness after three years of silence.

Itachi couldn't have minded less. The voice was not the same from his memory, but it was still _Sasuke _that was speaking to him – and that fact alone made that voice the sweetest sound his ears had ever heard.

"I'm glad to be here, Otouto. I didn't think they'd let me come." Glad to be here? What an understatement. Itachi should have said something more along the lines of _'If I had to go another day without being able to see you, there is a nine out of ten possibility that I'd have collapsed and died by next week.' _but he didn't. The way Sasuke beamed at him suggested he'd said exactly that, though – and it was good to know that they still were able to speak without words. Oddly ironic, since when Sasuke _hadn't _been speaking, they hadn't been able to see each other.

Sasuke turned to the guards, and it was strange to see his expression go so cold so instantly after the warmth he'd just shown Itachi. "Don't you dare pull me away from him,"

Before the guards _or _Itachi had a chance to comprehend what the younger Uchiha had meant by that, Itachi found himself with two armfuls of Sasuke, and it felt so _right _that he let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding. The tension of sleeping on stone floors for three years no longer strained his back, his heart beat seamed to steady itself as if it had either been going too slow or too fast – but Itachi didn't know. Sasuke's head was buried in his chest, and at that angle, the guards were unaware of the soft kisses the nineteen year old was placing there.

Itachi nearly purred at the contact, and wrapped his arms more tightly around his brother, running his hands all over Sasuke's back, touching everything he could reach without drawing too much unwanted attention from the guards. He could feel Sasuke breathing against him, breathing him _in. _He knew his brother was inhaling his scent, he could feel Sasuke's nose pressed against his pectoral, and it took everything in him not to sniff his brother's hair. He couldn't though, the guards would see, and it would not look like a normal platonic hug if Itachi was as gentle in his caress as he would have been.

Sasuke's body shook against his, and he knew the teen was crying. Hopefully, it was simply an overwhelmed reaction, and not something caused by actual grief. Sasuke clutched tightly to Itachi's shirt, and tried to be discreet in his sobbing. When he pulled himself together, he placed another invisible kiss on Itachi's chest, then backed away, looking like those two feet of separation were the worst thing in the world.

"Mother knows you're talking." Itachi said very deliberately, knowing that now he had to address the actual _reason _he wrote Sasuke that letter. "She's very excited about it, I'm sure the whole city will know in no time at all."

Sasuke's smile was small and held no true emotional contention. "I hope not to disappoint her. I still have no intention of talking to any of her cheek-pinching friends, if they come knocking."

One of the guards looked quite ruffled up. "Oi! Don't go talking in code, you two!"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow and looked so innocently inquisitive that _Itachi _almost believed they hadn't been speaking of anything important. "We're talking about how much of a pain our mother is. What's so encrypted about that?"

Clearly abashed, the guard shut up and allowed the brother's to continue their conversation, but not without reminding them that their promised fifteen minutes was nearly over and they'd better hurry the hell up. Itachi figured maybe he'd let his brother hold him for too long, but he'd never regret it.

"You know mother's friends, Otouto. They simply can't be helped. I've heard there's even a drag queen amongst her ranks these days, closer with more intellectual types than Mother, I think – but still as much of an eye sore as any one else we'd have been cooed by as children."

Sasuke snorted in a way that seemed appropriate, but Itachi could see in his eyes that he was carefully keeping mental documentation of this new information. Once more, Itachi took his brother in his arms, even as the guards took hold of his shoulder to steer him away.

"I love you," Sasuke whispered as Itachi was violently yanked from him – just low enough that Itachi was the only one to hear it.

He turned back to his brother, knowing better than to proclaim something of the same nature aloud, he hoped that his eyes said it all, as he was forced to part with the love of his life yet again, and he silently prayed that it wouldn't take another three years before he could hear those simple three words again, and return them in earnest.

**-Neji- **

It had been over two months since the last interesting event at the Asylum, and Neji was terribly bored. Although, in truth – Itachi's visit two months ago didn't effect him at all, it was still interesting news. Today wasn't as bad as others though, and the Hyuuga couldn't help but admit that he was having a good time as he moved his pawn forward on the chess board.

Shikamaru raised a smug eyebrow, as if he was asking whether or not Neji _really _wanted to make that move. Oh well. Damn bastard would win anyway, so why prolong it? Neji took his fingers off of the pawn, formally showing that yes, he'd made his decision and that was it. How the hell was Shikamaru already smug at the _first move _anyway?

Neji watched Shikamaru's face as the Nara's eyes danced around the board, and Neji had the strange sensation that his strategically lazy friend had already just played out this whole game in his head before moving a single piece of his own – based _solely_ on Neji's first move.

"You should have started with a different pawn, Hyuuga. That'll cost you your queen in three moves."

Ignoring the jab, Neji wasn't surprised to watch the game play out and see that his companions words were true. Losing his queen was detrimental, and only four moves after that Shikamaru had him in checkmate.

"Do you want to play something you're a bit better at?"

It occurred to Neji that perhaps his friend was trying to be considerate. "You'll beat me at whatever it is, Shika." He said with a slight laugh. Shikamaru shrugged.

"We could play something up to chance, if you'd like. How about _Sorry _or _War _or _Battleship_?"

Neji agreed to _war, _knowing that with the other two games Shikamaru had a tendency to simply switch to psychological strategy instead of a plan for actual game-play. The last time Neji had played _Battleship _with the damn prick, Shika had arranged his ships so closely together that Neji would get five red pegs in a row and still not have sunk anything. It was mentally frustrating in every way.

Oddly enough, Shikamaru was just as lucky as he was brilliant – and he managed to beat Neji at _War _as well. By the time they finished playing, at least an hour and a half had passed, and Neji was about to excuse himself when the door opened. He looked up to see a very red-faced guard, sputtering away about Shikamaru's sister visiting. Did Shikamaru _have _a sister? Neji knew no such relative. He'd bet that Shikamaru hadn't heard of her either, but they both knew that with Itachi having been here only two months ago, a mystery woman could be insightful.

Except that it wasn't really a woman at all. Sure, the creature that entered was wearing a _dress_, quite the revealing one at that. It was high collard in the front but low in the back, showing that she had large breasts (that were clearly fake) but wasn't showing any cleavage (probably impossible because they couldn't have been anything more than an expertly stuffed bra, against the man's flat chest.) The skirt of the dress cut off mid-thigh, exposing slender hairless legs that were accented with stiletto heels. Her lips were a false shade of cherry red, and her eye-lids a gentle sky blue. Even with a fake beauty mark, contact lenses, and a dusting of foundation that glittered all over her entire body, two tones darker than her natural skin color – Neji recognized her for who she was _immediately. _

She stepped into the room and smiled, and turned to the guard.

"Give us a moment, won't you darling?" She asked in a voice that was, admittedly, much more feminine than Neji himself could have managed.

Blushing, the guard left them alone. She gazed around for a while, looking for some sort of surveillance system. She found none, because there was none. Neji and Shikamaru weren't kept in one of the more top-security sections of the Asylum. They were only considered about as crazy as a senior citizen in a nursing home, really.

"My dearest little brother," the woman said with a kind smile, flipping hair that had naturally grown down to her shoulders. It still hang in that sickly straight way, though – and even as a 'woman' hadn't gained any volume.

Shikamaru was simply staring at her with his mouth open, clearly seeing her for exactly who she really was, but unable to speak. So, it was left on Neji to say something; and he did.

"Sai, what the _fuck _are you doing here?"

**A/N: Hm, I think this chapter is long enough, huh? Good stopping point, right? I certainly thought so. **

**OMGPLEASEREVIEW! **

**I love you for reading xD **

**-Beloved**


	8. A Window of Opportunity

**-Sai-**

For a couple of minutes, Sai just looked at his old friends, and let them get over their shock. He knew that it was a bit to get used to – seeing him in drag and all, but he didn't have a choice. Sai had a pretty face, and if he dressed as a woman, men didn't even take the time to wonder if he was a man in disguise, they just accepted him as some cute chick and went on about their business. That was pretty important to a fugitive. Especially because at this point, he was old enough to go to _prison _if they caught him. Some days, he wondered if confessing was even worth it, but he didn't linger on that for too long. He had his reasons for doing every single thing that he'd done in the last three years, and he wouldn't question them now.

"To answer your question, Neji, I'm here to talk to Shikamaru and yourself. I'd figured that finding you together would be rather simple, Gaara says you two have gotten even _more _close, which is difficult to imagine, considering how close you already were."

Neji completely disregarded the last portion of Sai's statement, and went on questioning about the first. "Here to talk to us about what?"

"About the Sakura Haruno case, of course. I think we all need to be very clear about certain things if we plan on escaping the situations we're in, and you two are the closest to getting out of this Asylum and helping me with the case."

Shikamaru frowned, and looked longingly at his bed, only two paces behind him, as if he was perfectly content to stay at the Asylum and didn't want to be bothered with an appeal. Neji looked elated at the thought of freedom.

"Okay, if we're all working together in this then we'll tell you everything we've worked out, in exchange for what _you _know. Before we start though, I've got another question for you. You were always-"

"I was always the closest to Sakura, yes. I was her best friend, yes – and I ended up wanting her dead just as much as anyone else could have. In fact, I'd threatened to kill her just two days before she died, and would have done it at the exact _time _she died if I could have. Surely you realized that suicide note bullshit was just her trying to save her own ass?"

Shikamaru nodded, probably having been the first to see the note for what it really was, but he had a slight frown on his face now. Sai didn't know if that was at the prospect of leaving his new comfy room – or if Shika was really _that _put off by talking about the murder.

"You say that it _would _have been you who killed her if you _could _have. Why couldn't you?" Neji asked, but Shikamaru answered for Sai.

"He was in the hospital, remember? He had a broken leg, and shards of glass were..." Shikamaru's eyes widened as he put the pieces together. "You fell out of the window, didn't you?" He asked Sai. "That's why the window was broken and covered in blood, but..." He frowned then, and Sai could see his mind racing as he worked out the rest. "It wasn't your blood they found on the crime scene, it was Gaara's. You got into a fight with him, and_ he pushed you _out of the window, and you tried to drag him down with you, didn't you? That's how he got all of those gashes on his chest."

Sai shook his head, although he was impressed with Shikamaru's deductive skills. "Not quite, I'm afraid. _Itachi _pushed me out of the window, Gaara was trying to pull me _up._"

"Why would Itachi push you out of a second floor window? Surely he's smart enough to know that such a short fall wouldn't kill you." Neji asked.

"Oh, no, he wasn't trying to kill me. How about I just tell you what happened, so that you don't have to ask so many questions. The week before that, I had confided in Sakura about something. She _was _my best friend, you see – and I had such a juicy secret that I simply _must _have told _someone. _This secret was given to her in confidence, with specific instruction that if she _had _to go running her mouth, she do it to anyone _but _the Uchiha brothers."

"What was the secret?" Neji said at the same time that Shikamaru blurted, "Well of _course _she'd tell Sasuke! She _lived _to impress him!"

Sai ignored both of their outbursts. "Itachi and Sasuke were very unhappy to hear what my little secret was, and they gave me a bit of an unpleasant ultimatum. When I was furious enough with Sakura to really want to _kill _her, I asked her to meet me for lunch in room two-thirty-four. She knew what I was going to do though, so she took two very wise precautions. She wrote all of us suicide notes, hoping that _I _would feel so guilty about her suicidal condition that I wouldn't kill her, and that if I still _did _want to kill her, I wouldn't – because you would all be there to see. Her second piece of security was that instead of sending Sasuke one of those ridiculous notes, she told him and Itachi that they could find _me _in room two-thirty-four."

"A genius plan," Shikamaru said lightly to himself.

Sai nodded. "It would have been, except that Itachi and Sasuke aren't the only Uchihas that had discovered my secret, and Shisui thought they were overreacting."

"So he warned you, and he and Gaara were with you when they came looking for you."

Sai smiled at Shikamaru and continued. "Yes, so around eleven in the morning, Itachi, Sasuke, Shisui, Gaara, and myself were in that room having a bit of an intense argument. I said something that was rather rude and got under Itachi's skin rather easily, and then the most curious thing happened. Sasuke punched me in the face. Odd, isn't it? That I would insult his brother and he'd react so aggressively? I hit him back, and the next thing I knew, Itachi sent me flying through the window. I still have no idea how Gaara grabbed onto my hands as quickly as he did, but he couldn't keep his grip and I fell anyway. From what I understand, Shisui took Gaara out of the room then to tend to his wounds, but my little _comment _inspired Itachi and Sasuke to have a bit of a bone to pick with Sakura themselves. They stayed, and they waited, and that's all I know. I'm assuming they killed her."

Shikamaru frowned. "No, they didn't kill her. I know what Sasuke and Itachi's secret is, I think that we're _all _aware of that, now – but it's still imperative that the authorities not find out, and not just for Sasuke's sake." Shikamaru looked pointedly at Neji, "It gives us _all_ much more motive than I'd care to have, if we were trying to keep our lips sealed about something as scandalous as that. Sasuke came to me when he and Itachi first became lovers, and asked my advice on a few things. One of them was whether or not telling Sakura would get her to stop hitting on him all the time. I told him that if Sakura loved him as much as she said she did, she'd keep the secret and back off. I can see why it would have unsettled him that she'd actually told you."

"Arrogant bastard. Breaking her heart just because he didn't want to be bothered with a few winks and fluttering eye lashes..." Neji muttered in annoyance. "Still, he didn't even have the decency to let anyone _else _who was in love with him down easily. No, everyone else just suddenly got an inexplicable cold shoulder."

Shikamaru offered his pale-eyed friend a sympathetic look, before turning back to Sai. "We don't know who killed her, but we know it wasn't Itachi or Sasuke, though they _were _in the room when she died, so they would _definitely _know who did it. However, I feel as if I need to amend your strategy slightly. We're _not _the easiest to get out. Gaara is. The only reason he confessed to murdering Sakura is because of his loyalty to Shisui."

Sai frowned. "Explain."

Shikamaru rolled his eyes as if it should have been obvious. "Gaara's blood was found on the crime scene, even though it got there before Sakura did. In reality, it was there because Itachi pushed you out of the window and he tried to save you. Now, here on the other hand, we have Itachi, who _didn't _murder Sakura, but would have been charged _without _his confession if the courts knew that only an hour before Sakura was killed, he'd gotten angry enough to push someone out of a window. Shisui would want Itachi to be able to get out of prison, which would mean that he'd have to be held there based on _his confession, _not the ruling of the jury. If Gaara admits the actual reason that his blood is on the crime scene, Itachi's status as a convicted murderer becomes permanent. No one will believe that you _jumped _out of the window, because of the glass shards in your back, and the fact that the window was technically _closed _when you were pushed. If Gaara admits to _pushing _you, then he gets transferred to the prison for attempted murder. He probably thinks himself to be rather stuck, and thinks that his only way to freedom is through convicting Itachi, but his loyalty to Shisui won't allow him to do so."

Sai nodded. "And yet you're saying that he'd be the easiest to get out?"

"Of course."

Neji and Sai were both looking at Shikamaru like he was contradicting himself and wasn't making any sense.

"Neji, why is Sai the number two suspect in Sakura Haruno's murder case?" Shikamaru asked, as if he was guiding elementary students to do a mathematical word problem step by step.

"Because he was mumbling in his sleep about killing her, then woke up and checked himself out of the hospital and disappeared."

Shikamaru nodded. "Yes, we _all _confessed to killing her. Why is Sai _specifically _so high up on the list of probability?"

"Because no one could reach him, so he had no way of arguing his case in court."

Shikamaru nodded and smiled, as if now they _surely _understood how obvious it was. Still, he was met with two blank faces. "You two need everything spelled out for you, huh? Sai is such a heavily weighted suspect because the police department can't speak to him to prove him otherwise. If you aren't able to say that you _didn't _do it, everyone's going to easily believe that you _did_." Blank stares all around, again. "Ugh! Have Gaara tell the lawyers that _Sakura _tried to push Sai out of the window."

"Ohhhhhh..."

Sai nodded along, understanding it now. "She has no way of saying that she didn't do it, and they have no way of reaching _me _to ask if it's true or not. If we can get Shisui to testify that that's how it happened, Gaara could walk."

Neji nodded. "Further more, with Sasuke talking, and Gaara out of the Asylum, once the case gets re-opened it's likely Shikamaru and I will be released anyway. There's no possible way that Shikamaru could have been on the crime scene, he only confessed because he knew Sasuke didn't do it, and he and Naruto came up with the idea that with so many confessions the police wouldn't be able to really put a lasting sentence on any of us."

"It was Naruto's idea, I'm just the one who formulated how to make it work." Shikamaru modestly amended. "It's true though, I was at the youth shogi championships in Tokyo that day, and I won – so that's a pretty solid alibi. Neji was proven innocent in his first trial, but his lawyers insisted he plead insane in case the city called for an appeal. They can't legally hold him here if he can prove his sanity, but no one would even take that to court in the first place unless the Haruno murder was re-opened."

Sai made a sound of agreement, knowing that everything really _did _depend on the case being re-opened. That's why he'd waited for Sasuke to speak before coming here. He had an itching suspicion that Sasuke still wouldn't speak to _him, _but that really didn't matter at the moment, even as hypocritical as it was. Of all people to understand that love is _love –_ you'd _think _Sasuke would be a sure believer.

But Sai had learned that apparently there were certain taboo's that Sasuke himself refused to accept.

**-Fugaku- **

Fugaku Uchiha was not in the best of moods when he got home. He'd been to see his sons that day, which was never fun, but still something he considered necessary as their father. He'd gotten the most difficult over with first, and gone to see Sasuke. The young man looked much like a child, he was sitting on the floor, playing with a bunch of paper animals, making little voices for them and prancing them about against the white padded substance that was not quite rubber, not quite carpet.

He was speaking now, but didn't acknowledge his father. Being ignored was something that Fugaku hated, and it always stung him more than Itachi's cruel words. Well, not exactly _cruel, _just statistically calculating, and always spoken exactly when Fugaku didn't want to hear them. Itachi would say things like "It's okay, Pop. I know the marriage has gone to shit. Why don't you just divorce her before she does it to you first?"

But Fugaku wouldn't divorce his wife. He loved her too much, even if that love never _did _reach her eyes anymore when she proclaimed that she loved him too. As Fugaku slid his front door open and stepped inside, he was not at all surprised to see that his wife's best friend was visiting. Ami was _always _here, which was seriously annoying, but if Mikoto cherished her friendship with that woman more than her marriage, then that was her own personal business.

Mikoto rose from the sofa and gave Fugaku a kiss when he entered, and Ami looked the other way, with that twitch of annoyance that she got whenever Fugaku and Mikoto made contact. It was damn _annoying _that twitch, but the woman never said a word against him as far as he knew, so he decided he didn't mind it.

"I was just talking to Ami about the boys," Mikoto said, sounding more delighted than she looked. She'd always been good at that, _sounding _happy even when she was at her most miserable. Her body looked happy to see him, and her voice was excited that he was home, but her eyes detested him, and said a silent prayer that he could be anywhere but here. Fugaku ignored her apparent sadness, knowing that it never went away anymore and it was pointless to ask her what was wrong when she thought she was covering it up so flawlessly.

"And what did Ami say about the boys?" He asked, sitting down across from them.

Ami cleared her throat in a way that Fugaku found to be obnoxiously lady-like, and began to speak in an obnoxiously feminine voice. "I had read in the newspaper this morning that the trial is being re-opened," She said with a sweet smile, as if this was good news. As if their sons _hadn't _been caught in a pool of that girl's blood, and reopening the trial would magically make them less guilty the second time around.

"Isn't that great?" Mikoto asked, and Fugaku hated that when she looked at her friend the smile reached her eyes. "I mean, maybe _our _boys still won't get off, but I'm sure some of the others will make it out of their current unfortunate situations, right?"

Maybe Mikoto was just super maternal, but Fugaku wondered sometimes if her goals in following this case over the past three years even had anything to do with _their _sons at all. Maybe she was just better than him when it came to looking at the bigger picture. He smiled and nodded along as she babbled about her day, and all of the clever ideas Ami had come up with for the boys. Fugaku wasn't listening.

"I should go," Ami said, sounding lady-like, resigned, and pissed the fuck off all at once. Fugaku envied women their ability to do that. "It's been lovely having this little chat, Fugaku. Mikoto, always a pleasure." Ami kissed his wife gently on the cheek, gave him a slight bow, then exited their home.

Mikoto went back into her usual depression, and Fugaku was again faced with the truth that his wife didn't love him anymore, and didn't even have the energy to _pretend _to love him if there was no one around to appreciate her efforts.

"Dinner's on the counter for you," Mikoto said in a detached voice. "I'm sleeping in Itachi's room again tonight."

Why did she say that? That she was sleeping in Itachi's room again tonight. She hadn't slept with Fugaku for nearly four _years_. Yet she still verbally reminded him of it. Every. Single. Day.

Itachi was right, their marriage _was _going to shit – but Fugaku wouldn't let it go. Not until he understood _why. _

**A/N: I have no idea why this chapter is this long... A lot of stuff had to happen, and it took me more words than I expected to get it out, I guess. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed it! **

**PLEASE REVIEW! **

**I love all of the readers! **

**-Beloved**


	9. It's Unwise to Underestimate a Woman

**-Gaara-**

Fresh sunlight was beautifully blinding, as Gaara stepped out of the disturbingly pristine glass doors of the Asylum. It felt absolutely surreal to be standing here, _outside _of that place – and know that he never had to return. The last time he'd even left that damn building had been after cutting too deeply into his wrist and almost killing himself. When they'd dragged him back into that white room – he'd half wished that his life _hadn't _been saved by those doctors.

Now, he was free. Free do to whatever the hell he wanted to. He was free because of a lie, yes – but this lie meant that he was free, Itachi wasn't any worse for wear, and Shisui wouldn't be pissy with him. What a wonderful combination.

As he got into the shuttle that the Asylum had supplied to take him home, Gaara wondered when the world had changed so much. A lot had happened in the past three years, it seemed. Japan's architecture was different in so many places, and as he rode along he was delighted to see how modern and _cool _everything looked. Even as the shuttle pulled up to the Uchiha Complex, he noticed that the gates were shinier, and that instead of putting in a code to get through them, you had to press your thumb against a print scanner. Gaara frowned, not expecting his thumb-print to be in the system, but he was greeted by a friendly face as he pulled his bag out of the trunk. He had no idea why they'd even let him _pack _his clothes. As if he'd _ever _wear those disgustingly white scrubs again. Fat chance.

Gaara raised an eyebrow at the person who was smiling at him, and frowned.

"Don't seriously tell me you're _still _living here..." He muttered in annoyance.

A light girlish laugh was the response. "Nice to see you again, Gaara-San, Shisui-San has asked me to let you into the gate. He is, regrettably, unable to welcome you to his home at the moment, and has asked me to do so in his stead. I hope you don't mind the change in plan?"

Gaara snorted, and opened his mouth to wittily retort, but was cut off when another familiar face approached them. It was Fugaku Uchiha and he was certainly in a less than personable mood. He frowned at them as he got closer, knowing that he was obligated to speak now that they'd made direct eye contact.

"Subaku-Kun, glad to see you as a free man again." He said, nodding his head politely at Gaara. "Ami-San, I'm surprised that you're not at my house with my wife."

Fugaku's glare only hardened when his statement caused Gaara to explode into a fit of laughter.

"Ah, Fugaku-San, I did have a quick spot of tea with Mikoto-Chan earlier in the day, but my duty is, as always, first and foremost to serve as Shisui-San's housekeeper. He has asked me to come pick up his guest, so here I am." She smiled sweetly at Fugaku, but Gaara clearly saw the anger in her eyes. He snorted in his amusement.

"Yeah, here you are – so who's gonna let me into this gate?"

Fugaku sighed and approached the finger printing pad, placing his thumb on it. The gate opened for them and they entered, Fugaku turning left and going off towards his home, as Ami and Gaara went right towards Shisui's.

"I take it you're enjoying Mikoto just as much as you were when we last spoke?" Gaara asked the woman, smiling at her with a mischievous grin in place.

Ami's eyes cut over at him, clearly threatening. "I'm sure that in front of all these people, I have no idea what you're talking about." She replied sweetly. "But if I did – I'd say that Fugaku would be a very lucky man if he knew his wife half as well as I do."

Gaara laughed at that and sighed happily as he looked around at the world. It was so beautiful, so _colorful, _even in the simplest ways. He had made it, alas.

He was free.

**-Hinata-**

She'd always been shy. She couldn't help it. Hinata Hyuuga was a naturally bashful person, and there was nothing wrong with that. But people were fools, sometimes. Her choice not to always be heard didn't mean that she couldn't _hear. _And oh god... _God, _did she hear.

She heard the way they taunted her as she passed, she heard the whispers in the halls, and she felt the stairs of everyone's eyes on her as she walked. Each stride that she took as she made the simple trip from her home to the gates of the Hyuuga estate was laced with the whispering disapproval of her family.

She was weak, she was foolish, she was doomed. The cousin that she'd always turned to in times of need was pronounced insane. The friend she'd always held closest was dead, and both the boy she loved _and _the boy she was engaged to – different people entirely – were convicted murderers.

Sasuke Uchiha. Her betrothed.

Never in her life had she known a time when she was allowed to dream of marrying anyone other than him. It had always been something to look forward to for her. She remembered the way that her friends used to mock her, and say that their families were too old fashioned and arranged marriages were outdated. Still, there was no arguing that a marital merge between the Hyuuga and Uchiha was a necessity if either clan hoped to survive, and with the Hyuuga clan's heirs only being girls, and the Uchiha heirs only being boys – it was natural that they'd wed. Itachi Uchiha had, of course not been forced into an arranged marriage. As the eldest son it was the families priority to keep him happy. No, the task of producing a valuable child had fallen on Sasuke, and Hinata was to be the mother of that child. That was a fact that had always been apparent.

Until now.

Now, she didn't know what or _who _she was anymore. She remembered the way she'd cried and cried and cried when Sasuke had said that he didn't care _what _his parents had said – he refused to ever marry her. She remembered going to Sakura about it, and learning the filthy secret that had, in a way, dried her tears. It didn't much stop her cousin Neji from hating Sasuke for doing that to her – but at least she knew that it wasn't really hate for _her _that Sasuke suffered from. It was love for someone else.

No matter. He was gone now. He was locked up in a padded white room, and whatever obligation she'd once had to him was over and done. Or, at least, that's what she liked to tell herself.

The people whispered that she was cursed. Sasuke had hated her while they were engaged, and as soon as she'd reached legal marrying age – everything had hit the fan. Sakura Haruno had been killed, Sasuke had been taken away, and the village was shaken beyond repair. The most eligible bachelors of her generation – all gone.

She frowned as she padded on out of the complex, and began her walk to the grocery store.

Little Hinata Hyuuga. The girl who didn't matter to anyone anymore. She frowned at the thought, but couldn't help but feel a private bit of amusement anyway. No one ever thought of _precious_ young Hinata. No one ever payed her any mind, and no one ever asked her any questions – because no one ever thought she'd know the answer.

But she did. She went everywhere, and she heard _everything. _Little Hinata Hyuuga knew who killed Sakura Haruno.

And she was getting a little _sick _of keeping that knowledge to herself.

**A/N: Mkay, don't kill me. I don't know why I feel threatened by you guys right now, but DON'T KILL ME... **

**PUT THE GUN DOWN, DAMMIT! **

**Mkay, well now that my spat of randomness is over - **

**REVIEW AND TAKE MY POLL! SERIOUSLY, TAKE THE DAMN POLL ! IT IS THERE FOR YOU AND YOU ALONE! AND YOUR TOP ANSWER SO FAR IS SO LAZY ON YOUR PART THAT IT'S JUST PLAIN DESPICIBLE! **

**-ahem- **

**I love you all for reading, **

**-Beloved**


	10. Of Strange Plates and Laughter

**-Itachi-**

"You've seriously got _some nerve _coming here, Sai." Itachi said in a bitter tone, glaring up at the boy in front of him who was, as usual, dressed head to toe in female attire.

The prison cell seemed to be even more excruciatingly cold today, and Itachi was huddled up in a corner, with the one blanket that he was allotted pulled tightly against him. His pride made him want to brave the cold so that he didn't look so pitiful – but he was too sensible for that, and he figured that Sai was colder than him anyway, by the looks of that skirt.

He hoped the bastard froze his balls off.

"Come on now, Itachi. I'm here to help you; and not for my own sake – as you well know."

Itachi glared cruelly at the younger man. "If it was for your own sake, maybe I'd let you. But you're right, it's _not _for yourself that you're trying to free me, and that just makes me want to strangle you to death right now even more."

Sai shrugged, and plopped down on the floor – immediately regretting it as he remembered the basic rule of nature that heat rises and cold air falls. The stone of the prison floor felt like ice and he shuddered, eying Itachi's blanket with open envy.

"I'm trying to be a good friend, Itachi. I-"

"You're sleeping with my fucking mother!" Itachi shouted furiously, hearing the jingling of keys as the guards hovered around the cell in response to his outburst. Itachi forced his voice down to a calm whisper and glared hatefully at Sai. "I've been in here for three years and you're _still _sleeping with my mother. Moved yourself into the complex, even. What's it like, Sai? Or should I say _Ami – _walking around like the lying little shit you are, having to wear a woman's mask because you can't even man up to your own sins."

Itachi could hear Sai grinding his teeth in apparent annoyance, but the shorter-haired man did manage to also calm down some and when he spoke it was with an annoyingly kind tone of voice.

"I love her, Itachi. I'm in love with her, and I've been in love with her for so long that I don't even know how to love anyone else anymore. I've never done anything to get between her and your father, it's not my fault if she doesn't love him anymore. Perhaps you're forgetting that _she _is the one who came on to _me _when I was just a helpless little kid."

Itachi looked pointedly at the wall, dreading the facts that were, of course, true. Fugaku had never sexually satisfied his wife. It was a fact that Sasuke and Itachi had always been disturbingly aware of, but no one spoke of it. Perhaps they were in love once, yes, but as far as things went in the bedroom – Mikoto was a spitfire and Fugaku was a cardboard box.

When Sasuke had turned sixteen, and held a massive birthday party at the complex ballroom – Sai had gotten lost. Itachi had no desire to know the details, but from what he understood, Mikoto had managed to seduce the teen, and had done so many times afterwords.

Of course, Sai hadn't come out about all of this to anyone but Sakura, who had of course told Sasuke, who had met Sai in room two-thirty-four, and the rest was history.

"I know my mother isn't the most moral of people either, but that doesn't mean you had a right to-"

"You think a sixteen year old boy has it in his mind to resist the temptation of a beautiful older woman? I don't remember you and _Sasuke _being around to see any of that, though. Hmmm... Sasuke's sixteenth birthday. I wonder where he was. Seems odd that he'd invite the whole village to a party, doesn't it? Almost as if he wanted to make _sure _he wouldn't be missed at his own event."

Itachi felt his jaw clench and he glanced worriedly at the door, hoping that the guards were hard of hearing. They were speaking very quietly, but he was still paranoid. As much as he hated him, it truly _would _be bad for the case if it came out that the charming young Ami was actually one of the lead suspects in disguise.

"If you want to know where Sasuke was, you'd be better off asking him yourself."

Sai snorted and rolled his eyes. "Right, right – except that you were missing in action as well, weren't you?"

Itachi was seriously getting sick of having Sai here. "Why did you come anyway, Sai? What do you want?"

Sai smiled. "Simple. I want your word that if I find you a way out of here, you won't try to kill me again, or blow my cover to make me stop sleeping with your Mom."

"Well, that's not something you can have. You might as well leave now. If I get out of here – and I _will _get out of here, then exposing you to the police is going to be the very first thing on my to-do list."

Itachi very much did not like the frown that Sai was giving him.

"Such a shame. I was hoping we wouldn't end up having to sue each other, Itachi... I've been staying at your house for quite some time. In your room, even. Of course, I did have to change your sheets before using your bed. They were quite filthy, and I must confess that I still haven't had them washed. I'm sure the court would be anxious to know how it is that DNA with such a close match ended up on the same linens..."

Oh lovely. Sai had a set of sheets with Itachi and Sasuke's cum all over it. Well, wasn't that just the lovely ending to an already wonderful day?

"It's highly possible that my brother could have been pleasuring himself on my bed, Sai. Don't jump to the wrong conclusions so easily."

Sai raised a mocking eyebrow. "Honestly, Itachi – is that what the jury is going to say when we all know that you and Sasuke have a secret that you tried to kill someone over? I think not."

And even as nonchalantly as the blackmail was referenced, Itachi got the point loud and clear: He and Sasuke's future was being handed to Sai on a plate.

**-Shisui- **

He had always imagined Gaara's arrival to be different, somehow. Shisui half frowned as he approached the bedroom he shared with his lover, able to hear the light gasp of pain – and then a low deeply pleasured purr. He knew exactly what Gaara was up to in there, and he was trying to decide whether or not to burst in.

Scathingly angry at the redhead, though unwilling to admit that to himself, Shisui stepped boldly into the room, and in one long stride, he was in front of Gaara and violently smacking the small razor out of pale steady hands.

Sea-foam eyes looked teasingly up at him, and a smirk spread across plump freshly-bitten lips. Shisui pointedly ignored the sexual gaze, and glowered down at the younger man.

"You've been out for over a month, now."

Gaara nodded, guardedly, and reached his abused arm slowly to his face, lapping at the blood as it spilled freely. It was a habit he'd picked up at the asylum – literally _licking _his own wounds. It was the only way to make sure the blood didn't stain the whiteness of it all, so it had been born out of necessity. However, Gaara had found in those three years that he quite enjoyed the taste of his own blood. They'd laughed about it once, and Shisui had called him his little vampire.

From the look on the Uchiha's face – there was no humor left to be had on the subject.

"I would have thought that this cutting business would have stopped by now." Shisui spat out bitterly, glaring down at his lover's arm, and scowling at the new scars there. They contradicted the old ones greatly – most of which had been either very depressing or very sexual or very frustrating.

Gaara's new scars were all happy words: Sunlight, Colour, Music, Love, Family, and today's new addition – Laughter.

There was about one for every week, and the lining of the words had gotten smaller. Shisui had wondered before how it was that Gaara found the _space _to have been carving himself open every week, but upon the Subaku's arrival to his home, and their first round of desperate love making, Shisui had made the unfortunate discovery that Gaara had clearly made good use of his legs as well as his arms. This had somehow been a bit of a wake-up call for the raven-haired man, and he had been completely against Gaara's self-mutilation from that point forward.

"Things like this don't just … stop." Gaara said quietly, looking at the man he loved with a mask of cool uncaring even though he was panicking on the inside. "They're not as deep … I'm doing the best that I can." He whispered the last part very quietly, almost just breathing it out, and Shisui couldn't help but look at him and see a pitiful child.

It was an odd sensation, that. He'd never really seen Gaara as a child before, even when Gaara _was _a child. He always had something so entirely adult about him that youth and innocence seemed foreign. Shisui was probably the only person who realized that Gaara really _was _an emotional wreck – even at the best of times, clearly.

So instead of pressing the issue, he smiled softly, and placed a gentle kiss on the red and torn flesh of Gaara's forearm, noting that the cuts were, in fact, significantly more shallow. "I love you," Shisui said quietly, placing another kiss on Gaara's lips, almost smirking at the desperate way the younger male's tongue insisted on battling with his, and refusing to cringe at the taste of Gaara's blood on his tongue. When their brief moment of passion ended, Shisui smiled, and looked down at the arm again.

"So, what made you laugh?" He asked, adoring the amusement in Gaara's raised eyebrow, and knowing that he'd impressed his young lover by pointedly ignoring the context in which he'd been made aware of Gaara's apparent laughter.

Gaara grinned and leaned playfully into Shisui's shoulder. "Well, Hinata Hyuuga told me the most amusing little thing today..."

**A/N: Hello! Sorry I've disappeared! Hope you enjoyed the update, and it's enough to keep you reading. Don't worry, everything actually DOES start to unravel itself rather soon, and the dominoes will start to fall rather quickly once the first one's tipped. We're actually coming to the last few chapters of this fanfic, believe it or not. It'll be fifteen chaps long, so five more to go. Don't worry, there will be yaoi xD**

**PLEASE leave me a review! I so covet them! **

**All my love and thanks for reading,**

**-Beloved**


	11. The Jolly Funeral

**-Sasuke-**

Sasuke was now the only person associated with the Room two-thirty-four case to reside in this Asylum. In the last three months, everyone had been cleared apart from the Uchiha brothers and Sai, and now the constant debate was whether it was still worth government money to keep Sasuke comfortable in the Asylum, or if they should just shove him in Itachi's cell.

Sasuke was on his absolute worst behavior, hoping to be sentenced to a life of not-really-misery-at-all with his Itachi in prison. Unfortunately, his lawyers seemed determined to keep him here. Claiming that because he was convicted as a minor, and therefore was unable to mature in the real world as an adult, he should be kept in the environment he was familiar with.

Even more unfortunately, today his old classmates had come to visit him. He had no idea who thought it was a good idea to let every single former-suspect aside from Sai (who the guards didn't realize was here) and Itachi, into this room together. Naruto and Kiba seemed to be closer after their time spent together in the detention center, which Sasuke thought was greatly annoying.

The thing that was most annoying was that Kiba was crying like a little bitch.

"Sasuke, they're saying that you can go to the funeral if you want to. It'll be a good chance to stretch your legs. I think you should come," Naruto said gently.

"I have no interest in teasing myself with the outside world, thank you."

Neji punched the wall, which would have made a very loud sound if it wasn't padded.

"You _owe _it to her memory!" The Hyuuga hissed out furiously, "It's _our _fault she died! And by _-our- _fault, I mean _your _fault, Sasuke!"

Sasuke was not at all phased by Neji's outburst, nor was he amused by the way that Gaara was snickering in the corner. Kiba was only sobbing louder.

"It would be scandalous not to go, Sasuke. You've been engaged to her from childhood. Think of how your mother would be treated in social circles if you didn't even show up to the funer-"

"Say one more thing about my mother, and see if the next of us to end up dead isn't you." Sasuke said, voice deathly calm as his deep obsidian eyes cut into Sai's frightened ones.

The room was very quiet after that, until Shikamaru broke the silence.

"They're letting Itachi have outdoors privileges to be accompanied there," The Nara said with a cool smirk, "And he's already said he'll attend."

Sasuke looked pointedly downwards to hide his blush, slightly peeved by the way that his friend knew just what to say to get him to do things. "Well then, gentlemen. I think I just might find it in my heart to grieve."

**-Choji-**

The craziest thing about Hinata Hyuuga's funeral was that no one had really expected Hinata Hyuuga to die. She wasn't old, or especially reckless. She didn't have any enemies, only countless lost friends. The second craziest thing was that both of the Uchiha brothers had been allowed to attend, because Sasuke was Hinata's husband-to-be, a fact that almost everyone aside from Sasuke and Hinata's parents seemed to have forgotten over the last three years. What was crazy wasn't even that the Uchiha brothers were _there. _It was that even though Sasuke had openly detested Hinata, he spent the entire funeral with his head buried in his brother's chest, looking like he was crying his eyes out.

The Uchiha boys had even been allowed to go back to Tenten's house for the reception. Sasuke's face looked rather dry at this point, but he still held onto his brother's arm, in a way that suggested he might fall over any minute from the tragedy of this event. Or, possibly, in a way that meant something else altogether if you were bold enough to confront two convicted murderers about such a sick accusation.

It was odd, having everyone here. It was like the exact opposite of Sakura's funeral, which had been tragic in it's lack of attendees if nothing else. Choji had gone to it because he was romantically involved with Sakura at the time of her death, although that was information that he was always slightly frightened to admit, partly because everyone who had once known Sakura wanted to act like they didn't now, and partly because she'd been _officially _dating Naruto. So, in a way, he was kind of screwing over Naruto as well as sleeping with someone who'd ended up dead, and that was just all kinds of too messy for him to come out about.

Choji didn't know that Naruto had known already, and was simply too kind of a human being to blame Choji for Sakura's betrayal. But then again, Naruto was a master at hiding things behind a grin.

"Hey, Choji!" The blond exclaimed, approaching Choji with a gentle smile, "I just had to walk Kiba home. He's really torn up about all of this."

Choji nodded. It made sense. Kiba and Hinata were quite in love. That had been obvious to everyone who knew them. He and Naruto mingled their way over to where Sasuke, Itachi, Ino, and Gaara were chatting. Sasuke had somehow acquired a glass of red wine and a plate of assorted cheese, but for once in his life, the Akimichi was not hungry.

Almost at the exact same moment, Sasuke and company saw he and Naruto coming and turned to smile as they sat down. Sasuke was leaning back comfortably, with Itachi's arm draped over his shoulders in a way that could perhaps pass for brotherly just so long as they kept up the "grief" act as well.

Ino beamed at him, "Sasuke, you remember Choji from school," She said excitedly, "Itachi, this is my boyfriend, Choji Akimichi... oh and that's Naruto."

Itachi chuckled, and shook left hands with Choji, reluctant to take his right arm out from around his brother, it seemed. "So nice to meet you, Choji. Ino's been writing me about you."

That was odd. He didn't know that Ino and the Uchihas were close, but then again, they'd always been close to Tenten, so maybe it was just a similar social circle.

"Only good things I hope," He said with a grin.

Sasuke was eyeing him in that same disdainful way that he always used to do when they were in school, and Choji was suddenly reminded of why he didn't like his former classmate back then and was unlikely to do so now.

"Well, how long have you two been together?" Sasuke asked, in that falsely sweet voice of his. Choji suppressed the urge to stab him in the neck with one of the toothpicks from that retarded plate of cheese.

"A year next Tuesday," he responded, eyes browsing the room to see if there was anyone else who he could possibly speak with instead. There was no one of interest who wasn't crying hysterically or furiously upset, so he remained seated where he was, and instead studied Gaara's long sleeved black wool sweater, wondering why he'd kept it on when there was heat inside.

Maybe he could just talk to the scary looking guards standing about five feet away from them, clearly watching Sasuke and Itachi.

"How about we tell our favorite memories with Hinata?" Naruto suggested, "I'll start first. When we were in middle school, she was always so scared of me that she wouldn't even speak if I was there, remember? I was so excited the day she overcame that! She had to perform a speech along with Sakura-Chan, because they both had the best grades that year, and I was sitting in the front row between two teachers, you know, cus I could never behave, and Hinata saw me there, but she spoke anyway! I was so proud!"

Naruto was the only person Choji knew who could talk about his dead friends as if they were his living children and not have it viewed as offensive in the least.

"I'll go next!" Ino squealed, "It was when we were like fourteen or something..."

And on and on the stories went, mostly between Naruto and Ino, until finally they noticed that no one else was chipping in.

"How about you, Gaara?" Naruto asked, and the redhead looked thoroughly pissed.

"Am I allowed to repeat the really interesting thing she told me the day before she died?"

"No!" Itachi and Sasuke both barked out at once, earning concerned glances from everyone in the room except for Gaara himself.

"Well, that's just no fun at all," The redhead said with a rather evil looking grin.

Choji was starting to think back on the rumor that Gaara had been in the nut-house for more than just Sakura's murder. He also started to think that Gaara's insanity combined with the Uchiha brothers' secrecy, and topped off with Hinata's untimely death meant that there was foul-play at work here.

His thoughts were somewhat interrupted when his eye caught sight of Itachi and Sasuke very subtly making small hand-motions towards where Shikamaru was standing across the room. Had Shikamaru been here earlier? Surely, Choji would have noticed his genius friend before.

Said genius gave Itachi and Sasuke a single slow nod, and then with a literal _bang – _all hell broke loose.

**A/N: I'm soooo sorry that this chapter took so long! I just haven't been feeling too great about this fic lately. Some reviews will cheer me right up, I bet xD **

**So – PLEASE REVIEW! I NEED THEM! **

**Thank you for sticking with me even though I suck, and I love you for reading even though you have to wait so long... **

**-Beloved**


	12. Thank You

**-Sai-**

Although most of the people who had attended the funeral would have told you it was a gunshot, Sai was one of the ones who had been privy to the information that it was, in fact, a very large firework. He knew this information for a very simple and logical reason: He'd been the one to set it off.

His 'Ami' persona looked her absolute best – if she did say so herself – wearing a sheer white lace top that did nothing to hide an overly-stuffed red bra, exposing just enough unauthentic cleavage to arouse the common man without revealing the fact that it was, in fact, merely foundation-covered silicone. His skirt was a deep almost-black blue, with ruffles galore. Were he actually a woman, he would have chosen something skin-tight, but as it was, there were certain things between his thighs that would have given him away if they were visible, so the ruffles were convenient.

His hair was already grown out rather long, but he wore extensions today, so that it hung messily in windblown waves down his back. His eye make-up was a smudged bright hooker blue, and his lipstick was cherry red. In truth, 'Ami' was a lot more decent than the woman he was presenting himself as today, but he wasn't here to get past the guards unnoticed this time. The already imperfect look, that he'd later made sure was quite askew in all the most disturbing places, was in fact supposed to make him _more _noticed.

And he was.

There were five guards total. Two each for Itachi and Sasuke, and another for added security. As Shikamaru had predicted, the "gunshot" only drew three of the guards away from their positions and into the alleyway. Which would have meant that two of them were left un-distracted … if not for the fact that at the exact moment of the 'bang' Sasuke Uchiha would be "startled", and spill a full glass of red wine onto Ino Yamanaka's shirt. Which she would, of course, have to take off, exposing her barely-legal lingerie-clad C-Cups to anyone who wanted to see.

For someone who was completely and entirely homosexual, Shikamaru had certainly involved a great deal of breast exposure in this plan. One would think that a heterosexual male could not be so easily distracted by a woman's bosom, whether it be a legitimate one, or a silicone replica. Of course, even the pervy-est of pervs could not be distracted for _long _by breasts, no matter how beautiful. Still, even the most prude-ish of prudes would take at least _one _second to look. It would be a quick look, but it would be a look away from whatever they'd been looking at before then.

And the Uchiha brothers were very, _very _fast. Having none of the guards looking at them for a full second was enough for them to get to the door, and Sai knew without seeing any of this happen, that by the time the guards looked back at where Itachi and Sasuke were sitting, they'd be long gone.

"What are you doing back here, Miss?" One of the guards questioned him, he turned his eyes towards the man, and flung his arms around him in desperation, letting sobs shake his body.

"A-A man! With a g-g-gun!" He squealed out in horror, pointing down the alley towards the exit to the street, "He t-took my purse! If I hadn't ducked in time he'd have... he'd have-" Sai promptly pretended to feint.

"Stay here, Miss! We'll go and find him!"

Shikamaru had expected one of the guards to stay with Sai. Sai was rather disappointed to see all three of them running in the direction he'd pointed, but it was actually better for the plan that way. Parked on that street was a heavily tinted vehicle, that had been almost empty until about thirty seconds ago, when Itachi and Sasuke would have gotten inside of it. And it should be turning in from the street to drive down this alley, right... about...

Now.

Sai smirked, as the car came to a moderately slow stop in front of him. He opened the driver's seat door, and switched out with Kiba Inuzuka, who then tipped unnoticed back into crowd of people running out of funeral reception, mixing himself in with the chaos.

Sai closed the door and looked back at Itachi and Sasuke, giving Itachi a pointed look.

"Well?" He asked, refusing to move the car at all until he heard the magic words.

"We will not make any attempt to kill you," Itachi reassured, pulling off his shirt and replacing it with the one that had been set aside for him in the car. Sai decided to ignore the hungry way that Sasuke's eyes lingered on his brother's chest.

"And?"

"And we will not reveal the true identity of 'Ami' to our father or any authoritative or legal persons."

Sai grinned.

"One more thing," He hinted, eyeing them mischievously.

They looked at each other for a moment, as if trying to decide if they'd be willing to risk their pride in order to escape successfully. Finally, they both turned towards Sai, and said the same two words in unison.

"Thank you."

**-Shisui- **

It had been the middle of the night when they came knocking on his door, and he had been blessed with the rare opportunity to wake up before Gaara. He smiled, looking down at the peaceful sleeping form of his lover. Gaara didn't sleep until very late, and woke up very early, so it was a scarce occasion indeed when Shisui saw him surrendering to the pull of slumber. But Gaara was a heavy sleeper when he slept, and Shisui was not.

He stood up, and went to his door, opening it to see two people who he was not expecting.

"Hold on for a moment, if you don't mind," He requested, escorting them into his living room before he went to get a little more dressed.

Gaara was still sleeping on his bed. He brushed crimson hair away from the younger man's forehead and smiled, pressing a kiss against Gaara's deepest and most treasured scar. It wasn't the only place on Gaara's body that had the word "Love" carved into it, but it was the only one with the kanji "Ai" while the others used "Koi" which Gaara clearly thought was less meaningful. The location was what was special about it. It was the place that he'd first kissed Gaara, though that kiss hadn't been romantic. It'd been when Gaara was in middle school, and Shisui was tutoring him. The redhead had jokingly mentioned that he'd never been kissed before, not even by his parents, and Shisui had jokingly kissed him on the forehead.

Gaara turned in his sleep, sending his hair cascading over the scar again, and Shisui stood up, and put on some proper pajamas, rather than return to his guests still in his boxers.

As he stepped back into the living room he could _feel _the tension in the air.

"Alright," He began, "I love you guys, but why are you here at three in the morning?"

"The police are raiding our house right now, they say that our boys have escaped..." Mikoto answered, glancing at Shisui's basement door. "We wondered if perhaps they might have come here, and if so, we thought to warn them before the raid spread out to other places in the complex."

Shisui stared at her, then let his gaze travel to Fugaku. He tried very hard to stay out of the drama that seemed to surround his family. This was just plain … rude. It was an insult to Fugaku and the poor fool didn't even know it.

Mikoto couldn't give two shits where Itachi and Sasuke were, and she knew damn well that they wouldn't be hiding at Shisui's. She was here to warn him that _Sai _wasn't safe in his basement tonight if the police came looking. He nodded at her, showing that he understood, before speaking.

"Last I heard, all three of them were on a private jet headed towards Alaska."

Fugaku scrunched up his face, "We only have two sons, Shisui,"

"Oh, is that right? Well. The two of them, then." He pretended to correct, though a glance at Mikoto showed that she understood. "I'm sure one of them will be contacting you shortly. Is that all?"

They nodded, and with apologetic goodbyes, exited his home. He sighed and turned around, coming face to face with an amused half-naked Gaara.

"Your family puts the 'T' in taboo," Gaara mused, leaning against the wall casually.

Shisui shuddered uncomfortably. He hadn't really pieced together Itachi and Sasuke's actual relationship until Gaara had outright told him about it, and Sai had confirmed the information as true. He still pretended not to know when he was around Itachi or Sasuke, but that wasn't about his discomfort. It was about the fact that in Konoha, the more you knew about Itachi and Sasuke Uchiha, the more likely you were to end up dead.

So far – there were only seven people who knew exactly what had happened in that classroom with Sakura. One of them was the killer. One was Sakura herself – who was dead. Then there was Hinata – who was also dead. Gaara – who was luckily smart enough to rat out Hinata instead of being killed. And, of course, Itachi and Sasuke – the reason the killer was still free and killing.

Shisui would be damned if anyone knew he was the seventh person on that list.

**A/N: You guys review so prettily! I would love to give you lots of little hearts for that, but as I'm sure we all know, it would look something like this: **

**Stupid FFnet.**

**I'm giving you this chapter because I adored your reviews on the last one. Wanna know a secret? I wrote this one and the last one in the same day. I'm a review whore. It's awful, I know. This fanfic gets an average of 16.6 reviews a chapter, so I waited for 16 reviews before I posted this chapter, cus I knew I could get them. I'm a terrible person – but that's just the way I am xD**

**BUT- On the good side – at least I was kind enough to make sure I had the chapter AFTER the cliffhanger done before leaving you guys with that cliffy. (I know myself too well to leave a cliffhanger without having the next chapter ready. I'm extremely horrible with updating the same fanfic consistently, which is partly due to laziness, but mostly due to the fact that I've got about fifty billion fics in progress.) **

**I'm about to start writing the next chapter right now, so it could very well be done by tomorrow and up by Monday if you guys review lots and lots! **

**I love you for reading!**

**-Beloved**

**PS- I changed the end there a bit, because it seemed to cause you guys some confusion the way I first had it.**


	13. A New Start With Old Memories

**-Naruto-**

Ichiraku's would never change. Well, maybe a little. They had actual tables now, not just the counter. That was new, but Naruto didn't mind. The ramen was just as perfect as it used to be, and he'd been here for every single meal since his release six months ago. They didn't charge him a single time. Konoha really was a wonderful place.

"I thought I might find you two here,"

Naruto looked up to see Shikamaru sitting down with them. He had come here with Kiba, which wasn't so odd. They spent a lot of time together these days. On some level, both of them wished that they wanted to be around other people, but they were so used to each other that it was strange being apart.

Aside from that, Kiba was rather depressed. "Haven't we done enough, Shikamaru?" Kiba asked, looking at their strategist friend with glum eyes. "We helped you piss all over Hinata's funeral already."

"It was the reception, Kiba, not the funeral. It would have been easier _at _the funeral, but I respect you and Hinata enough not to have done that."

Naruto frowned, "So I guess we're all out now, right? Where did Sai and the Uchihas go?"

Shikamaru looked rather hesitant to reveal that information and Naruto's eyes widened.

"Shika … They did _tell _you right?"

He nodded. "Sai only went with them as far as Alaska, then he's coming back and living with Ino for a little while. I do know where Itachi and Sasuke are going, but they've asked that I not tell anyone. Especially anyone who I think it would be absolutely harmless to tell." The Nara rolled his eyes at that, but Naruto was even more suspicious.

"It doesn't make sense," Kiba noted, "If they'd let themselves get caught, they'd be in prison together. Isn't that what they _wanted_?"

Naruto mulled over that himself. It truly _didn't _make sense. Itachi especially was quite capable of breaking out of prison at any given moment while he was there. Why would they put together a plan that involved assistance from so many people anyway? Unless …

"They're not running from the law," Naruto gasped, "They're running from one of _us, _aren't they? And you put together a plan that made all of us help them escape, so that whichever of us they're running from wouldn't have been able to come up with an excuse to chase them!"

Shikamaru looked rather peeved by Naruto's epiphany. "When did you get so smart?" He asked with a shake of the head. "Unfortunately, I can neither confirm nor disprove your theory, because there is no way for me to know whether or not you might be the person they're hypothetically running from."

Kiba snorted, "So basically Naruto's right, but we didn't hear it from you?"

Shikamaru's lips curled into a thin smile, but he didn't verbally reply, which to Naruto was pretty much as good as saying 'yes.'

**-Itachi-**

This had been a very long day. First, waking up early to attend a funeral for a girl he didn't even _like _much less mourn. All the while with Sasuke whispering delicately into his chest, explaining that they were about to escape. The explanation escaped his brother's lips so delicately and quietly, that if he had not felt those lips against his chest as the words were formed, he'd never have known what the hell Sasuke was saying.

After the strategy was all laid out, Sasuke had begun rambling about how annoyed he was with everyone lately, punishing Itachi with a firm bite against his pectoral when he stopped listening.

When the funeral was over, they'd had to sit through that reception, having to sit near Ino because she was a part of the plan, but having to sit near Gaara so he didn't run his mouth. The redhead had seemed amused that they imprisoned him between them and Ino, and Sasuke had been delighted to spill his wine on Gaara as well – though he earned a glare at the implication that Gaara should also take his shirt off. Now _that _would have distracted a few people...

They never did know whether or not Gaara helped put on a show, because they were out of the door as soon as the guards _began _to look away. Then, into the van – trying not to be nervous that Kiba had tears clouding his vision even as he drove them to Sai. It was rather awful of Shikamaru to make Kiba assist them during Hinata's funeral, but it had to be done.

After that, they had the seven hour flight from Konoha to Alaska. And after Sai boarded a jet back to Konoha, they were back on another seven hour flight, from Alaska to Okinawa, where they weren't even heard of – much less wanted criminals. The only reason they'd chosen Alaska as their splitting point was that they truly didn't want anyone other than Shikamaru knowing that they were even still in Japan.

Now, they were sitting, against opposite walls, facing each other, in their barren studio apartment, which Shikamaru would be paying the first three months rent on, until they got jobs, and could afford to pay their rent and pay him back.

Sai (through Mikoto) was granted access to the Uchiha vaults, and had given Itachi and Sasuke a great deal of money, but they planned on using it for furniture, food, and clothing – which would all be quite the expense considering they were escapees and truly had _nothing. _

Really, Itachi wanted to go buy a blanket and go to sleep. But he knew that he wouldn't. He couldn't. See, as tired as he was, all he wanted to do was stare at Sasuke and marvel over the fact that they really were going to be together forever now and nothing was stopping them. They could do whatever they wanted, say whatever they wanted, act however they wanted. There would be no guards to oppose them, and no friends to read too much into their words. They were free.

In truth, they hadn't exactly been running from the killer. Sasuke had simply been deeply unsettled by Hinata's death and not wanted to find out when it was too late that they were next on the death list. Itachi thought it was rather wise of him, though he highly doubted the killer would be able to hurt a hair on Sasuke's head. After all – they'd killed both Sakura and Hinata for Sasuke's sake.

_A classroom door – opening with a bang. Shock, playing across a familiar face. Horror, taking over the surprise, and finally rage. _

"_Sakura! That's SASUKE! What the fuck do you think you're doing?!" _

_Bodies. Heaving breaths of anger and confusion. Emotions, weighing the whole room down with their cruel dance of hatred and remorse. _

_A knife, adding even more to the tension than the gun that was already pointed to his face. That cruel glistening blade, so close to Sasuke's perfect skin... _

"_If either of you make a single move towards him, I'll kill him." _

_Words. So brief and so meaningful. Movement, so fast. Who would she kill with two people coming towards her? Sasuke would be the wise choice, but to do that would be to accept her own death. _

"_Stop! I mean it! I'll kill him!" _

_Itachi stopped, but he was the only one. Sasuke ducked, leaping back into his brother's arms, and then there was a struggle. _

_The gun hitting the floor, doing no damage as it fired through an already shattered window. A knife, held by four hands. _

_A scream. Blood. So much blood that it spurted onto them as well, and shaking hands, shaking limbs, shaking lips, shaking eyes – realizing what they'd done. _

"_I'm sorry … she … Sasuke, she would hav-" _

_Footsteps. Closer. Faster. _

"_Go," Sasuke pointed. _

_The door that lead to the bathroom. The bathroom that adjoined this classroom with the art studio beside it. _

"_Rinse the blood from your shoes and face, then put on one of the smocks," a suggestion that had come from his own nearly frozen lips, "Make a dash across the hall unseen, and go down the fire escape in the Chemistry lab." _

_Sakura Haruno, still looking rapidly around, trying to speak, trying to protest. Maybe, they could have saved her if they'd gone for help. But Sasuke approached her, as her killer ran. He wrapped his hands around her neck, and looked down at her face. Perhaps he was applying pressure, to stop the wound from bleeding. _

_It wouldn't work. _

_The door opening again, and Neji Hyuuga's horrified face-_

"What are you thinking so hard about, Nii-San?"

Sasuke's voice had yet to regain the delicate nature that it had possessed before the asylum. Itachi doubted it would ever come back. He was older now, wiser, and not as untainted as before. It would be bizarre, wouldn't it? If after going through hell Sasuke still spoke like an angel.

"Everything," Itachi answered honestly, looking upwards as Sasuke stood and walked towards him. The younger man straddled Itachi's thighs, and gazed at him evenly. His hands caressed Itachi's face and he leaned in, so close that as he spoke their lips brushed together.

"Kiss me," Sasuke whispered out, leaning closer into Itachi so that their chests were flush against each other. "I need you to kiss me," Sasuke explained, "Because the last person who kissed me was..." He cut himself off, but they both knew the end to that sentence anyway.

Itachi dove into his brother's mouth, cleansing it from the last kiss he'd had. The kiss that had tainted his lips for three years. His tongue clashed furiously with Sasuke's, and he wrapped his arms around Sasuke, holding him close, but it ended abruptly as Sasuke stood up, holding his head in his hands.

"I can't stop remembering …" Sasuke whispered.

_Green eyes, pink hair, a pale slender arm resting almost casually against Sasuke's shoulder, with a gun pointed at him as he was forced to watch his brother in the arms of that crazy bitch. Those **sick **green eyes, taunting him, then turning to Sasuke's beautiful face. _

"_You honestly thought that fucking your brother would make me stop loving you?" The hand that was not holding the gun, cupped against Sasuke's cheek. Lips. Not his lips. Someone **else's **lips, pressing against Sasuke's. _

"_Kiss me back, Sasuke. I don't care if it's only once, and I don't care if I end up dead by the time this is all over, but I'll be damned if I die without your love!" _

_Desperation in her voice. Perhaps she loved Sasuke as much as he did. But unrequited love could never be as powerful as what they shared._

"_Whenever you die," Sasuke whispered, "Whether it be today or a hundred years from now – it will be without my love. Forcing me to kiss you can't change that." _

_A shriek. Frustrated and insane. The click of the gun as the safety was taken off, "You will do your damnedest to love me, Sasuke Uchiha," She hissed out, "Or else I'm going to eliminate my competition." _

_A fleeting glance over his shoulder, pleading for forgiveness. And then hands like moonlight, perfect and slender, reaching to embrace the Haruno girl. Lips, pink and moist, that felt so lovely against his skin – were pressing into hers. His slender build, lithe and sweet, and beautiful, against her feminine body, a flinch in panicked horror as her breasts pushed into his chest, but the kiss continued. _

_Perhaps – had he not already experienced **true **passion from Sasuke, he would have believed that they were really both enjoying this terrible display. _

_Her hand, snaking lower, gripping at the place that she had no business touching. Her eyes, opening and staring into Sasuke's. _

"_This doesn't excite you at all?" Her voice, cracked and sad, but her face, set with determination as she attacked his lips again, as if ferocity would make up for the matching intrusions on her chest and the missing anatomy between her legs. As if it would make her hair and eyes any blacker, or her voice any deeper, or her hands any rougher. _

_Sasuke moaned into the kiss, and it was so fake that it was like watching a bad porno – but still the sound stung his ears – still he couldn't even bare to watch. But he was saved, in that moment – by the opening of the door. _

"I can't either," Itachi answered, feeling disgusted with himself.

It would be a long time before they could truly kiss again.

**A/N: Hello my dears! Did you know that you're getting this chapter even though Hurricane Sandy hit my house and I should probably be calling someone to fix the roof but instead I'm stress-writing? **

**Ah, trivia. **

**Anywho – Please review! **

**I love you guys for reading! **

**-Beloved**


	14. Feelings and Unexpected Emotions

**-Sasuke-**

Have you ever had a feeling? A feeling so big that it barely seems like it could even fit inside of you? A feeling so strong that it makes you want to act on it before you even know exactly what it is? The sort of feeling that tells you something. A feeling that says something big is about to happen, even though nothing but small things have happened for a very, very long time. A kind of feeling that makes you look at everyone you know differently. A feeling that makes you hold your close ones closer, and feel like the people you're distant from need more distance.

Sasuke had a feeling. He felt like something big – whether bad or good – was about to happen. The worst thing about this feeling was that he could guess what it was about with ease. After all, there were only but so many big happenings to have feelings about in Sasuke's life so far.

There was his sixteenth birthday, when his brother, Itachi, had made love to him for the first time. It had been so long since they'd been free together, and still their love making was quick, contenting, then over. They were still learning to have sex again, among a great deal of other things – which was quite silly, honestly, because at this point they'd been free longer than they'd been incarcerated anyway.

But some things change a man.

Aside from Sakura's murder, Hinata's murder, and his relationship with Itachi – there weren't anythings for Sasuke to have feelings about. Luckily – or unfortunately – for him, he did receive a small hint that he could safely assume was related to his feeling. This hint came in the mail one day, in the form of an invitation.

Now, invitations can be tricky things, depending on what it is that you're invited to, where it is that this event takes place, who it is that invited you, how happy you'll be on a scale of one-to-ten if you can make it, and how guilty you'll be if you can't.

Sasuke's Happy Scale for this event was a mere two, but he realized that his guilt level was a definite ten, so he reluctantly pulled out his laptop to look into travel expenses, and began to make some necessary phone calls. His lover, (and brother) was out at work, so Sasuke decided he would have to figure out this feeling of his on his own, even though between the two of them, Itachi was better at working through his emotions.

Sasuke highly hoped that his feeling and the invitation were completely and entirely unrelated, but he was too smart to be optimistic.

**-Kiba-**

It had been five years since Hinata Hyuuga's death. At first, every day one could find Kiba Inuzuka standing beside her headstone, staring down at it as if it would change anything. Then, slowly, life moved on. It became every other day, every three days, every week. Every month. And now, only three times a year. The day of Hinata's birth, the day of Hinata's death – and today.

Today was the eighth anniversary of what happened in Room 234, and still Kiba couldn't tell you why and how everything had gone so very, _very _wrong. The police had declared Sai and the Uchiha Brothers innocent, and were now saying that Hinata was the killer. Saying that she'd murdered her best friend, then when the case re-opened, she'd been afraid and guilty and taken her own life. Hung herself.

Kiba didn't understand how someone resigned to Suicide could have such desperate rope burns on their _hands_. He knew she'd died trying to get that rope off of her neck. Trying, and failing – and for what? Because she knew who had killed Sakura? Because she didn't keep it to herself?

Mikoto and Fugaku Uchiha were divorced now. Fugaku had moved away to god-knows-where afterwords, making Shisui the head of the Uchiha family, as the next eldest. He'd moved in to the main house, and Mikoto had moved into his. Sai didn't move at all, and supposedly "came back" to Konoha, though he still made casual appearances around town as 'Ami' from time to time. He claimed that it was so no one would suspect them to be the same person, but Naruto had teasingly accused him of liking himself better as a girl. Kiba would have laughed, except that sometimes he didn't remember how to do that anymore.

Itachi and Sasuke Uchiha never came back to Konoha. Well, never until now. Rumor said that they were in town this week, for Ino and Choji's wedding. Kiba had never known that they were all that close to Ino and Choji, and for a moment, he idly wondered if they were just looking for excuses to see their mother. The Uchiha brothers seemed like the type who would miss their family but be too proud or too afraid to admit it. Or who knows? Maybe weddings aren't something you have to be close friends to attend.

Or maybe Kiba just didn't really know who was closest to whom in their circle. After all – he'd always been the outsider. In truth, they all could have done it to Sakura. Who didn't have reasonable motive? Itachi and Sasuke had a secret to keep, and Sakura told it. Same thing with Sai.

She had threatened to tell Neji's parents that he was gay before he was ready to – which wasn't so bad of an offense, but had resulted in an enormous argument between the two of them that had included many hurtful words that couldn't be unsaid. Shikamaru had always despised her, simply because he saw right through her, and never failed to notice the way she wronged so many of his friends.

But Gaara? And Kiba himself? Who knew, really. Gaara had always kept his personal feelings displayed on his skin, but sealed between his lips. While he was two years recovered at this point from his masochistic bad habit, the kanji for 'Cherry Blossom' was still etched into his lower abdomen. Or at least Naruto said it was. Aside from Shisui, who was Gaara's lover, and Naruto – who was Gaara and Kiba's shared best friend, no one had actually _seen _the Subaku's lower abdomen. In all likeliness, Gaara did have a motive to kill Sakura. Naruto had joked that it wouldn't take much for Gaara to have a motive to kill _anyone_, and Sakura had been rather foul to a great many people.

Even Naruto himself. She had been cheating on Naruto all the way through their relationship, and Kiba was one of the few to know that she had, in fact, given Naruto an STD, although the blond never revealed what STD it was and whether or not he still had it. His exact words had been: "I loved Sakura, you know. I loved her, and I loved making love to her, even though it made me sick. Is that how you feel about Hinata, Kiba? Like you'd hold her all night because you love her so much – no matter how much it stings and burns in the morning?"

Kiba did love Hinata that much. And that had always been his reason. He didn't hate Sakura. Hell, he barely _knew _Sakura. But he knew that god damn Sasuke Uchiha was betrothed to Hinata. And he knew that if Sasuke was proven guilty, Hinata's hand in marriage would go to any member of the Uchiha family that wanted it. To Kiba, if Hinata _had _to be in a marriage contract with someone, it should be Sasuke. Simply because their genuine dislike for each other would keep them apart. He couldn't count on that with some other Uchiha who he didn't even know. Besides, his friends were all doing this for each other. Of course he would help them keep Sasuke from facing that fate.

But now what? It was over. They were all free and Hinata was dead. Sasuke wasn't worth that. No one was worth that. He stared down at her headstone silently, and let the tears run down his face. He could hear people approaching behind him, but he didn't look up, barely even recognized their presence until he saw a pale delicate hand, placing a rather extravagant bouquet of flowers down.

He looked up then, and saw that the Uchiha brothers _were _in fact in town, and that maybe they _were _that close to Ino, because she was with them. Surprisingly enough, the delicate hand had been Sasuke's, and not hers – though she was holding quite the abundance of flowers as well.

"Lilies," Sasuke said softly, "They were Hinata's favorite."

Kiba frowned, unappreciative of the kind gesture. "How did you know that?" He asked, somewhat accusingly.

To his utter shock, Sasuke laughed at the question. "It was my business to know things like that, wasn't it? After all, had she not have died, I would have been forced to play the part of the perfect fiance until she worked up the balls to marry you instead. I happen to have a list of her favorite things that our mothers made me memorize when I was six years old. Of course, at that time, Polly Pocket dolls were number one."

Finding at least a little humor in this, Kiba smiled. His first thought was that maybe Sasuke _didn't _always have a stick up his arse. Then, looking at the loving yet disinterested expression on Itachi's face, he mused that perhaps a stick up his arse was exactly what Sasuke had needed after all.

"We're just heading to meet up with Shikamaru and Gaara, though I bet Neji will be there too. I swear if he and Shika don't just shag already, the sexual tension will suffocate them both." Ino explained, looking vaguely uphill in the direction of Sakura's grave. Kiba knew that on this day Ino, Shikamaru, and Choji often came here and talked, after paying their respects to both dead girls. He suspected that Shikamaru rather resented being a part of this tradition, as he certainly didn't miss Sakura the way that Ino did, but both Sakura and Hinata had been Ino's best friends, and with them gone, Shikamaru was the only best friend she had left.

Wordlessly, he followed them up to Sakura's grave. Surely enough, there was Neji along with Gaara and Shikamaru.

The three of them looked thoroughly surprised to see the Uchiha brothers there, and Kiba wondered if maybe he wasn't the only one who had been skeptical of the rumor that they were in town.

More surprisingly to Kiba, was the sudden and urgent hug that Shikamaru pulled Sasuke into. It was purely platonic, but held such emotion and friendship that it seemed like more than that. Kiba wondered if maybe Shikamaru was more of a brother to Sasuke than Itachi was – since the elder Uchiha was clearly much more than that.

Kiba didn't seem to be the only person who hadn't expected such affection out of their usually quietly strategic friend. So imagine the horror when Shikamaru separated from Sasuke and gave Itachi an equally bone-crushing embrace.

"Shika?" Sasuke asked softly, when Itachi deposited Shikamaru back into Sasuke's arms, clearly uncomfortable with human contact himself.

"I figured it out," Shikamaru said, it was almost a stage whisper. It was near silent, and yet they were all being so silent already that they could hear him. "I know who did it. I know everything. I understand everything. I'm so sorry..."

He was crying now, and Kiba decided that perhaps Shikamaru was literally having this epiphany at this very moment, because the next thing that the genius did was kiss Neji firmly on the lips, and then his hug was for Gaara – who looked (if possible) even more disoriented than Itachi.

"Hinata never really told you who the killer was, did she?" Shikamaru demanded of his red-headed friend. "She told you it was Sasuke, because she didn't want to marry him... that's why … Oh god, but it _wasn't _Sasuke! It was never Sasuke, you've got to understand!"

And then he was latched on to Kiba. Who didn't really feel uncomfortable with the hug as much as he felt uncomfortable with the fact that Shikamaru – who was usually completely calm and collected – was having an absolute break down about events that had long-sense been set aside.

It was at this moment that Naruto and Sai made an unexpected appearance, eyes widening at the sight of Itachi and Sasuke – who Naruto glomped in a way that was no less enthusiastic, but much more in character than Shikamaru. He gave Ino a half-hug and a kiss on the cheek, before warmly accepting the hug that he was randomly receiving from Shikamaru.

"You alright there?" Naruto asked, patting Shikamaru's back.

"He just solved the case," Neji explained, still looking dazed from that kiss. It had been so long that it actually took Naruto a second to realize what Neji was talking about.

"_Our _case?" Naruto blurted incredulously, passing Shikamaru off to a clearly opposed and reluctant Sai.

Kiba hadn't realized before then that in truth, Naruto and Shikamaru were the only friends they all had in common.

Sai was frowning at Shikamaru, even as he stopped crying and took a deep breath.

"So," Ino asked, raising a daring eyebrow, "Who did it?"

They had almost forgotten she was there. It had been a moment that was just between them, the suspects of this case, the men who had lived the last eight years with Sakura Haruno's death hanging over them. Always to protect each other, whether they were closer to one person in their group or not, because they knew in their hearts that none of them did it – but until then, almost none of them had known who did.

And Shikamaru smiled, and he embraced Ino gently, and kissed her hair. And then, he looked her directly in the eyes, and answered her question.

"You."

**A/N: Duh Duh Duuuuuuhhhhhhh! **

**So now you know who the killer is. Before you ask – yes the murderer for Sakura and Hinata are the same person. **

**Next chapter is the last! I'll try not to take too long with it, but I can't make any promises because I literally have no internet access on any computer in my house anymore. **

**PLEASE REVIEW! **

**Also take my poll! ^_^ **

**I LOVE YOU ALL FOR READING! **


End file.
